Surrounded By Loneliness
by Pervvy Sage
Summary: After her father's arrest, Asami struggles within, constantly reminding herself that she is not her father. She has also come to the conclusion that she is truly alone. She has cut ties with everyone, aside from basic interaction, to save herself from further heartache. But when Korra barges into her life, will she be able to keep up the act? No bending, modern, college AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thank you for checking out my twist on the LoK. This story is a no bending, college AU, taking place roughly after season 2, though, the timeline of the show doesn't really matter with this fic.**

 **Now with this being my first fic, there may be some shortcomings, and for that I apologize. Feel free to leave reviews and PM me with ways I can improve my writing. I'll be sure to take any advice, into consideration when writing this fic or any others.**

 **With that being said enjoy!**

 **Chapter 1**

Korra, was a very simple person. She didn't ask for much. As long as she had a decent amount of sleep, some food in her belly, and wasn't being outright annoyed, she was a happy girl for the most part.

But I guess today she was asking for too much.

As she sat in class, sleeping while everyone was leaving, her professor tried to awaken her, "Korra." No response. He frowns and leaves his desk, to get closer.

"Miss Korra." He says, louder in a stern voice. Still no response. He sighs in frustration and walks towards where she's seated. He stands over her and starts clapping very loudly. She awakens, with a jolt and starts clapping along, before her eyes open and she looks around, noticing the empty room.

She groans, finally catching on, "Oh hi, Tarrlok."

" _Professor_ Tarrlok." He says, emphasizing professor, while she rolls her eyes. "Miss Korra, you've been late to every class for a week, which I've excused, but in addition to your tardiness, you have been asleep ever since you first sat in that chair this morning. This is inexcusable. You may think this class is an appropriate time to catch up on sleep, but your grades say otherwise." He sighs, crossing his arms.

"You excel at anything regarding The Southern Watertribe, but when it comes to the North, you lack greatly. You've failed almost every quiz I've given on The Northern Watertribe. We have a test coming up soon, which you know. If you don't pass this test, you will fail this class." He says, as he walks back to his desk.

Korra slings her bag over her shoulder, and takes a deep breath, "I've just been busy with work. Don't worry, I'll pass." She says, walking past his desk.

"You'd better. I'd hate to have to fail you."

"Thanks, _Professor_." She says sarcastically, as she walks out of the door.

* * *

"Asami?"

"Asami."

"Asami!" Asami blinks, rapidly, as her eyes focus on the figure of Varrick in front of her holding, some kind of device.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?" She asks, massaging her temples. This was his fourth time in her office, this month. This was getting ridiculous! She had better things to do, than sit and listen to him all day. Well, she didn't, but she'd much rather do nothing than listen to his wild ideas. It wasn't that he was a bad guy or anything like that. He was just, very annoying and over the top. More than she'd like to deal with.

"I said, take a look at the future, Asami! What I'm holding in my hands, is going to innovate the world of communication forever! I call it the 'VarriPhone'." He brings the phone inches from her face, twisting, turning, flipping, and pulling it. She notes that it looks like an old flip phone.

Asami, pushes it out of her face, shaking her head. "Varrick, people stopped using flip phones years ago."

"Exactly! That's what they want you to think." He says, looking around the office suspiciously. "This isn't just a flip phone. Flip this knob and press this button, then boom! You've got, holographic imaging! Flip this knob and twist this antenna and bam! You've got… uhh," He stops, scratching his head. "Zhu Li, what else we got?"

Zhu Li, adjusts her glasses and clutches her clipboard tighter to her chest, "Nothing sir. This is as far as you've gotten, with the first prototype."

"Well, why didn't you tell me?! Now I look like an idiot!" Varrick spins around, and walks right out of Asami's office, Zhu Li right behind him, without another word.

Asami sighs, checking her phone, and notices a text from Mako.

 **Mako: Hey, wyd**

 **Asami: Leaving work in a few**

 **Mako: Meet me and Bo at Narook's?**

 **Asami: I'm tired. Maybe next time**

 **Mako: Psh. "Next time". Yea right.**

She clicks the button on her intercom and speaks to her assistant, "Hey, Li. Do I have any more meetings scheduled for today?"

Three seconds later, "No, Ms. Sato. Your schedule is clear for today. Would you like to add on?"

"No, thank you. I'm heading home. Have a good day."

"You too, Ms. Sato."

Asami, walks out of her office, into the elevator and down to the garage. She gets in her car and is driving home when she notices, a tanned woman, running full speed down the sidewalk, like a mad woman. She would've offered her a ride but the woman was moving too fast.

Oh well. It probably would've been an awkward ride anyway. Ever since her mother died, Asami had a hard time letting people in. There were a few people here and there, that she'd met who she had no problem getting along with, like Mako and Bolin. But once her dad got arrested, last year, she'd found it even harder and started pulling away from everyone. She even broke up with Mako. There were no hard feelings, and they remained friends, but Asami needed space. From everyone. She rarely socializes, but when she does, it's only when necessary, such as at school or work.

* * *

"Excuse me! Coming through!" Korra, was sprinting down the sidewalk, trying to make it to her job in time for her shift, at Narook's, before she was too late. She could always have someone cover for her, but she'd promised, she'd meet Mako and Bolin, after her classes were over.

As she rounds another corner, she glances at her watch, "Crap, I'm gonna be late!"

She adds more speed to her sprint and makes it there, with three minutes to spare. "Heeey Korra! Why do you always come in here, like a bat outta hell?" The other waitress, Opal asks, watching her friend, move through the place, amused.

Korra breezes past her and into the employee bathroom, to change into her uniform. When she comes out, she shoots a playful glare at Opal, "Opal, you know I just got out of class. Are Mako and Bolin here yet?" Opal shakes her head. "Good go find them a table, close by the kitchen, so I can see when they get here." Korra says, as she heads towards the kitchen. She comes back out and hands Opal a bowl of seaweed noodles.

Whenever they have free time after class, all four of them, hang out at Narook's cafe, until Korra or Opal finish their shift.

Mako and Bolin, have been trying to get Asami to join them, for months, but they still haven't had any luck. Ever since her father was arrested, she was rarely seen outside of school, which she hadn't attended for a while.

Fifteen minutes later and they finally arrive. Bolin gives Opal a quick peck and she hands him the bowl of seaweed noodles. "Oh, I'm starving and this smells, looks, and tastes delicious! Thanks, Opal!" He looks for Korra and then spots her, handing someone a glass of some drink, "THANKS, KORRA!"

She waves her hand in his direction, as customers shoot him looks.

She keeps handing everyone their drinks, and plates until a different waiter comes in, a few hours later "Hey, Iroh." Korra waves, tiredly.

He chuckles as he waves back, "How's it going Korra?"

"I just wanna go home and go to sleep." She groans as he walks into the kitchen.

"What? Go to sleep? Aren't you going to Wing and Wei's party?" Bolin asks, eating his seventh bowl of noodles.

Korra shakes her head, "You know how hectic Saturday mornings can get. I don't want to get run over on my way over here, in the morning." She chuckles, sitting in an empty seat at the table. "Plus, working with a hangover, is never a good idea." She sighs, tiredly.

Bolin pouts, "Aww. It won't be as much fun without you."

Opal clears her throat and mock glares at him, "Excuse me?"

"What I meant to say was: Opal's not going and Mako's a killjoy?" He looks over at Opal and sees her smiling, "I'll just have to drink double the amount, since you won't be there."

Mako shakes his head with a slight smile, "Not a good idea, bro. Remember the last time you drank too much, at one of their parties? I'm sure Su does."

Opal laughs, "She's still making them clean toilets and scrub floors."

"I'm surprised she's even letting them throw another party." Korra laughs, remembering a barfing Bolin.

"She's not. She's out of town for a while and they're using it to their advantage." Opal says.

"Tell them I'm sorry I couldn't make it, and to make it up, I'll give them a rematch on the field." She says, getting up from the table and throwing her bag on her shoulders. "I'll see you guys later."

A chorus of farewells ring out in the air, as she leaves the cafe and heads out into the night, towards her apartment.

As she walks down the sidewalk, she rotates her shoulders and massages her arms. She wishes she could've stayed a while longer, but she really was tired. She had worked a double the night before and the only sleep she had gotten, was an hour before she went to her classes and the few minutes she'd gotten, while Tarrlok blabbered on.

Sometimes she wonders, if she should've just taken the money her parents offered, when she moved to Republic City a year ago. But then when she accomplishes things, she realizes it's all worth it. It was worth, all the long, tired, and achy nights. She did it herself, with her hard work and determination. And nothing could be better than that.

As she's thinking, she starts crossing the road when a car comes out of nowhere, driving like a maniac, heading straight for her, faster than she can move. As she stares into the headlights, with wide blue eyes, her thoughts move a mile a minute, adrenaline kicking in and her heart beating against her rib cage like a drum.

 _Should I run? No, not enough time. I can't stand just here and get hit, either. Only one option. Jump!_

As the car comes barreling towards her, she jumps, narrowly avoiding the bumper, and crashing into the windshield.

 _Great._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Cabinets and cupboards slam shut, as Asami groans in frustration. She opens the doors to, both, her refrigerator and freezer, looking through shelves and drawers, finding nothing that suits her her taste-buds at the moment. She slams the doors closed, and she decides to eat take out. She snatches her car keys off of the counter and heads out of the door, towards her car. She decides to meet Mako and Bolin, as she gets into her car.

She backs out of her driveway, and heads in the direction of the cafe a few blocks away. As she's driving, she feels all of the tension and frustration she'd been carrying, ever since her father's arrest dissipate. She swerves, between cars, in and out of lanes, ignoring all traffic signals and signs, feeling at ease, as she always does behind the wheel.

If there was anything that could make her feel better it was, driving, and creating something new. It made her feel safe. As she drove, her thoughts wandered to a simpler time, when she was younger. She had just built her first car. Her father had been so proud of her and she was ecstatic, seeing the smile on his face.

 _If only things could be like that again…_

She lets her mind wander, and makes a sharp left. While turning, she takes her eyes off the road for one second and when she looks back, there is someone right where she's turning. Under normal circumstances, Asami would've been able to drift around this person with ease. But having just spotted them, there was no time for her to do anything but slam both feet on the brake and hope for the best. Though it seemed her hope was good for nothing, because right before her very eyes, she was going to- Oh! The person jumped out of the way of the bumper!

As soon as the car is halted, Asami immediately goets out and goes around to check on whoever she had just hit. As she gets closer she hears them groaning, "Ow..." Thank Spirits, they're okay.

Korra tries to move, but her tired and beaten body won't cooperate.

 _This is just my luck. I just wanted some sleep. Is that too much to ask?_ She thought, wryly with a deep sigh. She hears someone get out of the car, coming toward her. She tries to look over but her head is pounding, so she settles on closing her eyes, to stop the blurred images and lessen the sharp pain in the back of her head.

Asami comes around the front of her car and sees the same tanned woman from this morning, sprawled across her broken windshield, with a pained expression on her face. "I am so sorry! I don't know what happened. Here, let me help you to the hospital."

Asami goes to pick Korra up and when she does, Korra slowly opens her eyes and their gazes lock. Asami suddenly can't move, as she stares into slightly narrowed, brilliantly blue eyes. That is until Korra has to close them due to her headache. Asami shakes her head to clear her mind, "I'm going to put you in the car now."

When Asami lifts her, Korra lets out a harsh breath, feeling a sharp pain shoot through her leg from her ankle. "I think my ankle's broken." She says breathing heavily.

Asami gently lies her in the passenger seat and runs around the car, sitting in her own. She looks at the windshield and frowns. There's no way she can drive with it cracked like that. She proceeds to kick it out of the frame and onto the ground. They then start their journey to the hospital, with Asami trying to get there as quickly as possible but not disturb Korra, with her reckless driving in the process.

She looks over and sees Korra fighting to keep her eyes open. She must be trying to stay awake, in case she has a concussion. "Hey, talk to me. I can help you stay awake. What's your name?"

Korra looks over at Asami with droopy eyelids. She really should've gotten more sleep, because the longer she looks at this girl, the more she doesn't care that she almost killed her. "Korra. What's yours?"

Asami focuses her attention back on the road as she answers, "Asami Sato. Nice to meet you Korra. I'm sorry it was under these circumstances." She sighs, frustrated with herself.

How could she let something like that happen? She was a professional when it came to driving! A turn like that, even with somebody in the way, should've been a piece of cake for her. Asami shakes her head slowly. She can't let her thoughts deter her like that again. It would seem even behind bars, Hiroshi makes Asami's life that much harder.

Not to mention the person she'd just hit. If Korra didn't have the reaction she did, there was no telling what would've happened. Asami didn't want to imagine a different outcome. She was having a hard enough time dealing with the current one. She couldn't afford to let her thoughts consume her like that again, so she focused intently on the road and Korra's words.

Korra sees Asami frustration, and tries to help ease her mind, "Sato? You make cars and stuff right?"

Asami smiles and nods, "Yep, that's me. I invented the 'SatoPhone' too."

Korra thinks for a minute, "So… that means, you could fix my phone for me then?" She asks with a slight grin.

Asami chuckles. Korra had just been hit by a car and she asks about her phone. Unbelievable. "Depends on what's wrong with it. I've seen a few phones that weren't worth saving. I'd be happy to buy you a new one if yours is a lost cause."

Korra gingerly, reaches into her pocket and realizes her phone isn't there. "Damn it." She winces. "I left it at work." She sighs, looking over at Asami. Mako would grab it for her. Then she has a sudden realization. "Oh wait! I've heard of you! Didn't you and Mako date?" She asks, excitedly.

Asami laughs at Korra's outburst, "Yeah we dated for a while. We're still friends, but we didn't really mesh well as a couple."

"Well he's the reason my phone is buggy. I was helping him and Bolin practice, and he threw the worst pass I've ever seen in my life, straight at my phone. Needless to say my phone caught it. It freezes a lot now and moves much slower than it did before." Korra says, looking around. She was ready to get to the hospital. Her head was killing her, and the sooner she got there, the sooner she could leave and go to sleep.

Asami thinks over the details, Korra had she just given her on her phone. "I think it I can fix it without a problem." She smiles.

They soon approach the hospital. Asami finds an empty parking spot, relatively close to the entrance and goes around to Korra's side of the car.

"Alright, I'm gonna lift you up now." She reaches down to lift her, and Korra wraps her arms around her neck, hissing as her ankle and head both throb in pain. "Sorry."

Korra looks into her eyes, takes in a shaky deep-breath and gives her a slight smile, "Thanks for the lift."

Asami has to look away quickly, unless Korra wanted to be dumped onto the floor. Truth be told, Korra was a lot heavier than she looked. Asami assumed, it was muscle weight since Korra was very toned and seemed to be very athletic, if her arms and the way she jumped over her bumper, were any indication.

They enter the emergency room and Asami walks over to the desk. The lady behind the desk starts speaking but doesn't look up right away. "What is- Korra? What are you doing here?!"

Korra looks behind the desk and smiles a bit, her eyes heavily lidded. The bright lights in the room, made her head hurt ten times worse. "Hey Pema. I sorta got hit by a car." She chuckles.

Pema's eyes go wide. "Oh thanks Spirits, you're okay. Who would run you over, of all people?"

Asami looks down, guiltily. "I did. It was an accident. I lost focus for a second and the next thing I know, she's lying on my windshield. I'm sorry."

Korra tries to shrug but fails miserably. "Things happen. I'm alive and that's all that matters. But I do have a broken ankle and maybe a concussion too."

"Come with me." Pema walks out from behind the desk and takes them through a door, down a hall and into a room. "Wait here for the doctor. They'll check out your head and ankle. I have to go. I'm not supposed to leave the desk." And with that, she leaves the room.

Asami gently, lies Korra on the bed in the room, as they wait for the doctor to arrive. She sits in the chair across from the bed. She looks at Korra and sees her watching her with, barely opened eyes. "How do you feel?" She asks concerned.

Korra's eyes open a bit wider as she answers, "Like I got hit by a car." She chuckles then winces. "My head is killing me, my back burns, my shoulders burn and feel like they weigh a ton. And my ankle is broken. But you know, other than that, I'm fine." She grins, widely at Asami. "You don't have to stay here, you know." Though Korra really didn't want her to leave. She enjoyed her presence and wanted her to stick around for awhile.

Asami shakes her head, defiantly. "No, I do. It's my fault you're here in the first place. If you have to sit through this, then I have should have to. Besides, it's not that bad. I'm happy to be here." And she was. Korra was different from everybody else. While Asami wanted to get away from every and anybody, she didn't want to get away from Korra. Quite the opposite really. And she wanted to figure out what it was about Korra, that was calling her name. Besides those beautifully, sweet and captivating blue eyes looking at her right now.

Oh.

Asami blushes and looks away, realizing what she'd just thought. Korra notices, raising an eyebrow.

She was just about to question if Asami was okay, when there's a light knock on the door. "Come in."

The door opens and the doctor sticks her head in before walking in fully and shutting the door. She greets Asami with a wave and smile, before looking at Korra with a smirk and shake of her head. "Really Korra, if you missed me you could've come by and said that. You don't have to go throwing yourself in front of cars just to see me." She places her hand over her heart and gives a mock pout.

Korra rolls her eyes, "Hello to you too, Kya." She gestures to Asami. "This is Asami. She brought me here after the accident."

Kya shakes Asami's hand, "Thank you for bringing her after she decided to jump in front of you car." She smirks at Asami. "But in all seriousness. Korra let me see your ankle, please."

Korra slowly sits up, wincing the whole time. She bends down trying to take off her shoes but the pain in her shoulders prevents her from doing so. Korra looks up with an embarrassed smile. Asami immediately, gets out of her seat and takes her shoe and sock off for her, while Korra sits looking down at her in shock. Asami, manages to get the shoe and sock off without hurting her and sits back in her seat.

Korra finally comes back to her senses, "Thanks, Asami." She says slowly.

Kya looks between them with a smile, then bends down to examine Korra's ankle. "When did you realize it was broken?"

"When Asami lifted me off of the windshield."

Kya nods. "Hmm. How does it feel now? And is it just your ankle that hurts, or is it in your shin or anything like that?"

Korra looks up, thinking about how to describe the pain. "My ankle is the only thing that hurts on my leg right now. My shin only hurts when I move my ankle. It feels like the pain is radiating from... the inside? I don't know." Korra shrugs then winces.

Kya nods again confirming she had heard her. "Okay. I'm going to move your ankle around a bit to see what we're dealing with. So far it doesn't look too bad. Just a bit of bruising and swelling." She looks at Korra. "Let me know when you're ready."

Korra takes a deep-breath and nods. Kya begins to slowly rotate her foot, looking between the ankle and Korra's face, to judge pain levels. Korra tightly closes her eyes and clenches her jaw, as her ankle explodes in pain. She feels someone grab her hand and opens her teary eyes, seeing Asami.

Kya releases her foot and stands, "Alright. It looks like you'll just need a cast. I'd still like to take an x-ray to be sure. Now, it's time to check your head." She moves behind Korra. "Can you point to where it hurts the most?"

Korra nods and points directly to the back of her head, where it hit the windshield.

Kya looks through her hair, and feels her head. She soon stops, coming back to the front of them, seemingly satisfied. "Alright Korra, answer these questions for me, okay?" Korra nods. "Where are you currently?"

Korra smiles. "I'm in the emergency room. Come on Kya. Keep up." She chuckles softly.

Kya grins, "Alright, that answers if you know who I am or not. Do you who that is holding your hand?"

Korra looks at her confused for a second, until she looks down at her hand. She notices a pale hand in her grasp and looks at it's owner. She's met with emerald green eyes, looking back concerned. She suddenly can't remember anything as she looks into Asami's eyes.

"Korra?" Asami calls, worried. Asami was scared and it shows on her face. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she had caused Korra brain damage. A broken ankle was bad enough, but this was terrible. She squeezed the warm hand in her palm, feeling it squeeze back.

Korra blinks, and looks toward Kya, who was smiling at her as if she knew a secret. "Sorry. This," She lifts Asami's hand in the air,"is Asami's hand."

Asami blushes, realizing they were still holding hands. She didn't mean to continue holding Korra's hand for so long, after Kya was through with her ankle. She had just gotten worried and forgot. Though she couldn't say she cared as, Korra squeezes her hand again.

Kya laughs, "Okay, tell me how you got here and why you're here."

Korra nods, "I was just leaving work and walking home, when I saw a car coming at me. When I noticed the car, it was too late to move out of the way so I jumped, trying to avoid the bumper, but I guess it got my ankle." She gestures to her foot. "Then the car stopped and Asami came and put me in the passenger seat. She drove here and carried me in. Pema gave us this room. Then you came in and started playing with my ankle. Now here we are." She says looking up at Kya, tiredly.

Kya looks to Asami, "Is all of that right?" Asami nods.

"Alright Korra. Your head seems fine. Your ankle is broken but it could've been much worse. Thank The Spirits, you jumped out of the way of that bumper, or this could've been a different story entirely." She sighs, crossing her arms. "Now let's get to that x-ray. Do you need a wheelchair?" Kya asks.

"Uhh..." Korra looks at Asami.

Asami looks from Korra to Kya, "No, she doesn't."

"Follow me, then." Kya gestures, towards the door.

Asami stands and reluctantly releases Korra's hand. "I'm going to lift you now."

Korra nods, then hisses as, Asami lifts her as gently as she can. "Thanks."

They follow, Kya down a hallway and make a right entering the x-ray room. Asami very gently lies Korra, on the table under the machine.

"Do you have any metal on you?" Kya asks.

Korra reaches into her pocket and pulls out a wad of money, and coins. "Can you hold this?" She asks looking at Asami.

"Sure, but why do you carry so much cash?" Asami chuckles putting the money in her back pocket.

"They're my tips from today."

Asami steps into the area Kya was in and waits.

* * *

Back in Korra's room at the hospital, once again, Kya finishes casting Korra's ankle. "Whew! Now that, that's done, how is your head feeling and how's your sight?"

Korra looks up at Kya, with barely opened eyes, "My head feels like someone threw a brick at me. And everything's a bit blurry."

Kya nods. "I see. Since you live alone you'll have to stay here, so we can monitor the condition of your concussion." Korra looked like she was about to protest, "But since I know how you are, I know you won't stay. You have to get somebody to stay at your place, or you stay at there's." She says crossing her arms.

Korra thought about her possible options and didn't like any of them. Mako and Bolin have a game tomorrow and Opal has to work. "I'll be f-" She started, but then was cut off.

"She can stay with me." Asami says strongly. "If she wants to." She said looking over at Korra.

Korra looks at her, with wide shocked eyes again. She was excited to spend more time with Asami, but she couldn't ask her to do this. She didn't even know her and was inviting her to stay at her house. "I can't-" She was cut off yet again.

"Okay great! It's settled. You'll get your crutches and you can get out of here. Fill out the paperwork at the desk, outside of the door in the hall, and you're free to go." She smiles, leaving Korra no room to protest. Korra slumps her shoulders and pouts, accepting defeat. "Don't put too much weight on that ankle and it'll be fine. I'll schedule a follow up appointment for next week and we'll check it's progress." She hands Korra her crutches. She waves to Asami and Korra, exiting the room.

"Well, let's get out of here Nurse Sato."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Naga, down." Korra says, laughing. She'd asked Asami to stop by her house, so she could pick up a few things. The last thing she needed, was to be sent back to the hospital because she'd gotten jumped by her pet. It was bad enough she'd allowed herself to get run over.

"Make yourself at home. It'll just take two seconds." Korra smiles at Asami, as Naga continues to paint her face with slobber.

Asami, cautiously, walks past the impossibly big dog, and looks around. If she had any doubts about where Korra came from, she knew now. Her small apartment was like a modernized Watertribe. There was blue, almost everywhere, accented with white decorations. It all, actually, blended together nicely. As she walked towards the large couch, she had to admit Korra had taste. Blue wasn't Asami's color, but it looked very nice in Korra's apartment.

She notices a photo-album, in the middle of the coffee table. She flips it open, and is greeted with a picture of a little girl with, wolf tails, a round belly sticking out of her shirt, and no shoes on, holding a small white dog, grinningfom ear to ear. She chuckles. "Is this you?" She asks pointing at the picture.

Korra pushes Naga's face away, and walks over to Asami on her crutches. She looks at the picture and blushes while smiling. "Heh. Yeah, that's right after I found Naga. We've been together ever since." Naga gives a small woof, agreeing.

Korra goes into her bedroom, while Asami continues looking through the pictures. She abandons one of her crutches by the doorway and grabs a backpack. She puts it on her chest to be able to reach the opening, while still holding one crutch. She rummages through her drawers, unceremoniously, shoving clothes into her bag, wrinkles be damned. She grabs her phone charger, and stares at her bed, debating whether she should take her pelt or not. She decides to leave it since it she didn't want to carry it. Surely Asami had covers.

She looks toward her desk and her eyes land on her Northern Watertribe history books. She frowns. Tarrlok was always, oddly, on her case. She didn't know what his problem was, but she hoped that he dropped it soon. It was entirely possible that he was angered by her deeds in the Watertribe. If that was the case, he needed to let it go. Holding grudges was beyond unprofessional, especially all because she helped her father stop a war! She shoves the books into her bag angrily, and moves towards the bathroom.

Asami sits on the couch looking at Korra's growth. She was currently trying to keep her mind off of her father. She fails as she sees the next picture. It shows Korra in a blue cap and gown, sitting on her dad's shoulders, laughing happily. Asami sighs, closing the photo-album. She sits it back on the table and sits back deep in thought. Her father was arrested a few months before her graduation. She still remembers how it felt that day. When her name was called, and her parents didn't cheer. She'd never felt more lonely in her life, than in that moment. She couldn't truly enjoy her graduation. She went straight home right after, and cried herself to sleep still wearing her cap and gown. That was the day she realized she was truly alone.

"...zip, dammit! Whew. You don't know how hard it is to-" Korra comes out of the bathroom with a toothbrush, inside of a Ziploc bag, hanging from her mouth, by the end of the zipper. She looks at Asami and frowns. "Hey. You okay? What's wrong?" She asks, now pouting.

Asami's mouth barely twitches at the sight. "Nothing. You ready to go?"

Korra nods, frowning again.

"Let's go." Asami says, coldly.

Korra watches Asami walk out the door, in shock, not moving. That was odd. She gets a grip on herself and follows on her crutches. "Pray for me Naga."

To say the ride to Asami's house was awkward, would be a gross understatement. Luckily she didn't live very far from Korra at all. It was still enough time for Korra to fall asleep fully. Kya had given her some pain medication, for her back and shoulders, and it had made her drowsy.

By the time they make it to her house, Asami's hearing small snores from Korra. She gets out of the car and goes to the front door, unlocking and opening it. She then walks back outside and to the backseat, sliding Korra's backpack onto her shoulders. She walks to the passenger side and opens Korra's door. She studies her face as she sleeps, and can see how exhausted she is. She sighs, then very gently scoops Korra into her arms, careful not to wake her. Korra groans, and turns her face into Asami's neck. Asami takes a shaky breath, walking them into the house. She kicks the door closed, then takes Korra into the guest bedroom. As she lays her on the bed, Korra groans. Asami leans down over Korra, and places a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry." She whispers, then leaves the room, not noticing Korra's small smile.

Asami makes her way into the living room and, before she knows it, stops to look at her last family portrait. She touches her mother's face, as a few tears escape her eyes. "I miss you so much. I wish you were here."

She sits on the couch and takes shaky deep breaths, reigning in her emotions. She knew why she was getting so emotional all of a sudden. Her father's birthday was coming up, and she'd been putting off reading all of the letters he'd sent her.

Her eyes find his face next. He was so different then. Her mother's death changed him so much. Well, it had changed her too. But he nearly lost his mind. Maybe she wasn't any different. Instead of feeding into her anger, she just shut her emotions off completely. But what other choice was there? All she feels now is pain and anger. Surely, being disconnected was better than turning into her father. Right? It had to be.

Asami spends another hour in the living room, before she decides to go to her work-shed in the backyard. There was no way she'd be able to go to sleep now.

 **Saturday** 4 **:30am**

Asami goes back into the house, with the same look she left with. Working helped her mind, but it only helped while she was working. As soon as she stopped working, she had to force her feelings away once again. It was becoming quite tiring, if she was being honest.

On her way into the bathroom, she sticks her head into Korra's room and smiles faintly. Korra's body was sprawled across the entire bed, with the blankets kicked to the end of the bed, her leg dangling off the side, foot in a cast. It was almost time for Asami to wake her again. She'd do so after her shower. She was dirty and oily, no need to get oil everywhere.

She quickly showers and gets dressed. She goes into the kitchen and grabs her home phone, dialing Mako and Bolin's home number.

 ***Ring***

 ***Ring***

 ***Ring***

"Asami?" Bolin answers the phone sounding groggy.

"Hey, Bolin. Is Mako with you?"

"Uhhhhh… Hold on." She hears him scrambling around his room. "I found him! He's under a pile of covers. I think he's hungover." He whispers the last part.

"How busy are you going to be in the next two to four hours? I need you guys to do me a favor." She asks, ignoring the obvious fact they were hungover.

"What do you need? I'm completely free, until later this afternoon. Mako and I have a game. But until then, Bolin is at your service! Ooh can I bring Opal too?" He asks excitedly.

"Sure she can come too. I'd prefer she came actually." She whispers under her breath. "I, uh, sort of hit your friend Korra by accident, with my car last night." She cringes.

"What?! Is she okay? Is she in the hospital? Oh no, she's dead isn't she? Koorrraaaaa!" Bolin starts sobbing into the phone.

"Bolin calm down! She's not dead." Asami huffs. "She has a broken ankle and a concussion. I need you guys to check on her every two hours from now until I get back from work, to make sure her concussion isn't worsening."

"Oh." Bolin sighs in relief. "Spirits. I don't know what I'd do without Korra. You don't know how many times she's saved my butt. Let me tell you ab-"

"So, you'll do it?" Asami asks.

"Oh, uh, yeah sure, no problem, Asami." Bolin says nervously.

Asami sighs. "Thanks Bolin." She says sincerely. She knew she was being cold.

She hangs the phone up and goes into Korra's room. Korra now lies curled on her side, cuddling an extra blanket between her legs.

Asami walks up to her and gently taps her shoulder. "Hey. Korra, wake up."

Korra squints up at Asami. "Who are you?" She asks groggily.

Asami gets worried. Every other time she woke Korra up, she never had any trouble recognizing Asami. "It's- It's me, Asami."

Korra smiles. It made it hard to tell if she had her eyes open or not. "Oh, you mean, the green eyed cutie who hit me with her car." Korra giggles.

"I, um, no. I mean-" Asami stammers, wide eyed and blushing.

"Why are you dressed so fancy? Where are you going?" Korra asks, tilting her head, with an adorably cute, child-like, expression on her face.

Asami clears her throat. "I, um, have to go to work. But I'll be back in a few hours."

Korra genuinely pouts. "Please, don't go." She grabs Asami's hand with both of hers. "I'll miss you. Stay with me, please." She asks, sweetly.

Oh crap.

Asami's heart starts pumping harder in her chest, as she looks into Korra's pleading eyes. She truly didn't want to tell Korra no. How could she? She considered staying home but she really needed to go. She takes a deep breath and sits down beside Korra, on the bed.

She lowers her eyes and sighs. "Korra… I really need to go. I'll see you soon, I promise."

She looks up and sees Korra's eyes, welling with tears ready to fall, and her bottom lip trembling. It breaks her heart. "Hey. Don't cry. Please? Mako and Bolin will be here soon. If you still miss me when they get here… have them drop you off at my job, okay?"

Korra wipes her eyes, and nods sniffling. "Okay. Can I have a hug?"

"Uh, sure." Korra pulls Asami into her arms. She wraps her arms around her tightly and catches a whiff of her shampoo.

"Heh, you smell nice." Korra giggles. Asami barely pays her any attention.

She is focused on the feelings going through her, as Korra's strong arms enfold her. It made her feel nice. But it also scared her. She couldn't be hurt again. Her heart couldn't handle any more pain. She'd lose her mind. She couldn't allow herself to get any closer to Korra.

She wasn't stupid. She knew she was attracted to Korra, and it scared her. Not only had she never felt attracted to another woman, but she was scared of losing another person important to her. That's why she couldn't let this crush develop into more than just a petty crush.

With that thought in mind, she slips out of the smiling woman's arms and stands up from the bed. "I have to go." She says, with a blank expression on her face.

Korra waves at her as she leaves the room. She decides to write Korra a note since she probably wouldn't remember any of that.

 _Korra,_

 _Mako and Bolin are coming by in a few hours, to check on you while I'm at work. There's some food in the fridge and cupboards, if you get hungry. My office number is on the fridge, if you need anything else._

 _Asami_

She decided to leave out the part about coming to her office. If Korra felt lonely, she could ask Mako and Bolin to stay with her. And with that Asami left the house.

Korra wakes up feeling better than she had in months. She really should get more sleep. She looks around the room confusedly, for a moment, not recognizing where she is. Then she remembers the night she had. She had nearly been killed.

Leaving the bedroom, she walks into the living room taking in her surroundings. The house itself wasn't very big, but the decorations were amazing. You could tell someone very wealthy owned this house. She flops onto the big leather sofa and sits there for a moment, realizing she hadn't heard anything from Asami yet.

"Asami?" She calls out.

She waits for an answer but doesn't get one. Her eyes land on a framed photo that looked very out of place, right next to her on the sofa. She grabs it and sees, Asami with, who she assumed were, her parents.

It was obvious that they were her parents. She looks just like her mother now, and there wasn't any doubt who her father was. As she studies the young Asami's face she realizes, she hadn't seen either of Asami's parents. There wasn't even evidence that they were here.

She sits the photo on one of the end tables. What was she going to do? She assumed Asami was at work, but had no idea what time she'd be back, if she was coming back at all. Then her stomach growls loudly. She makes her way into the kitchen and notices a note on the fridge. She reads it and considers calling Asami but decides that'd be weird, since they don't really know each other. Plus Asami was probably busy at work anyway.

She opens the fridge and rummages through the shelves, looking for something easy to make but also appetizing. She decides she'll have a better time looking in the cupboards, and settles on some instant noodles.

As she waits for the water to boil there's a knock at the door. She makes her way to the door as fast as she can, considering her crutches. She opens it, revealing Bolin and Opal. Bolin looked like he'd had a rough night, his hair was everywhere on his head, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was leaning on Opal a bit.

"KORRA!" He shoots forward and picks her up off of her feet. "Oh Korra! I heard you almost died! You are the toughest little squirt ever." He says sobbing into her shirt.

"I'm okay, I'm okay. It wasn't that bad, I swear." She says, laughing as he sets her down.

Opal comes up to her and wraps her into a hug. "I was so worried when Bolin told me what happened. He made it seem like you were in critical condition." She shakes her head.

"Opal, she got hit. By. A. Car. I don't even know how she's walking right now! How are you doing that? What happened anyway? Oh, here's your phone." He hands her the phone and flops onto the sofa, dragging Opal with him.

Korra unlocks her phone and notices 27 missed calls and 33 text messages. Majority of which came from Bolin and Opal. "I was walking home from work, when Asami came out of nowhere. I jumped over her hood, but it still hit my ankle. I landed on her windshield and she took me to the hospital. I only have a broken ankle and a concussion. I'm fine."

"Why are you here now?" Opal asks.

"Kya said I needed to have someone monitor me because of my concussion." She rolls her eyes. "And Asami volunteered." She looks at Bolin and takes in his condition. "I guess you guys had fun last night too. How's Mako?"

Bolin smiles sadly. "Let's just say, I wasn't the one who threw up this time."

Korra's eyes go wide and she guffaws. She'd definitely have to make of fun of him later. Her water starts steaming and she goes into the kitchen to prepare her noodles. "How long does Asami usually stay at work?"

"Hmm? Oh, I don't know. Sometimes she just leaves, and other times she has a lot of meetings. Like, a lot, a lot. When she called, she asked me what I was doing until this afternoon, so maybe she'll be back by then." Bolin says shrugging.

Korra nods. She really didn't want to stay here alone, with nothing to do. "What are you guys doing today?"

"I have to go home and get ready for work, after we leave here." Opal says.

"I gotta go home and babysit Mako, get us ready for game time." Bolin makes a disgusted face, at the thought.

"Ugh! What am I gonna do? I can't go anywhere with these crutches, and Asami isn't here." Korra groans.

"I don't know how much you can do with those crutches, but Asami has some workout stuff in her backyard. And she has a wicked crazy mover collection." Bolin says, gesturing to the huge TV, in front of the sofa.

"Maybe you can go to her job. She'd usually let Mako hang with her in her office, when they were still dating. As long as she wasn't in a meeting."

"Really?" Korra asks. Bolin nods and Opal looks at her, inquisitively.

"What?" Korra asks, noticing Opal's gaze.

Opal smiles at her the same way Kya did last night. "Nothing, nothing."

"Well we've got to go. So whatever you decide, _please,_ call and let me know. Please?" Bolin says as he walks towards the door.

"Yeah, call us. You can't be trusted to take care of yourself. I leave you alone for ten minutes, and you leave your phone at work, _and_ get hit by a car. You're no better than Bolin." Opal says, and Bolin pouts.

Korra huffs and rolls her eyes. "Fine. I'll call you later. Both of you. Now get out of here."

Bolin and Opal both say their goodbyes, and Korra locks the door behind them.

She sits on the sofa and starts devouring her noodles, thinking about her options for the day. First of all, she would check out the equipment Asami had. But she didn't know what she'd do after that. She thinks about going to Asami's job, but she'd have to wait for Bolin to come back, or call him to drop her off.

She didn't know how well Asami would take her showing up at her office, uninvited. Mako was a different story. They were dating, so of course, she wouldn't care about him just popping in. But she'd just met Korra, and they weren't even close. She probably didn't even consider Korra a friend. In the end she decided to wait for Asami to come home, however long that may take.

She discards her empty noodle cup in the trash can, before walking out of the backdoor, and towards the huge shed in the back. She steps through the door and her jaw drops. Half of the shed looked like some kind of factory, with machine parts, tools, and schematics all strewn about. Towards the back was a wall made of thick glass, and behind the wall was a mini gym, with all kinds of workout equipment.

She crutches over to a bench-press, and adds a few weights onto each side, with a smirk on her face. "Well, alright then, Asami."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Korra spent the next few hours doing nothing but upper body exercises. Bolin had come by again, about an hour or so ago. She was starting to get tired. She wasn't able to do as much as she usually would, her shoulders and back were still a bit sore. But she enjoyed the exercise she did get.

But now it was time for a shower, because the smell wafting from her was gross. And she was fairly hungry too. Maybe she'd make a sandwich or something.

* * *

Today was rather uneventful. Asami spent most of the day in the factory with the workers, and going over new construction plans. She hadn't gotten a call from Korra, nor Bolin so she hoped everything was alright. She, truthfully, was scared to go home, knowing Korra was there too. Scared wasn't the best way to describe what she was feeling. She felt a weird mix of emotions about seeing Korra, without there being anything to distract them from each other. The two most noticeable emotions were excitement and fear.

She made short work of the road between her, and her house. She pulls into the drive way and sees light shining through her curtains. Korra must be up. She takes a few calming deep breaths and exits her car.

Unlocking and opening the door, she sees Korra in her refrigerator, moving around. She comes into the house fully, closing and locking the door. She sits at the small bar separating the kitchen from the living room and watches Korra.

Korra finishes assembling her gigantic sandwich, with a large bag of chips and a case of soda under her arm. She takes a huge bite of her sandwich before closing the fridge with her crutch. "Mm. That's-" She turns around sees Asami watching her, with an amused look on her face. Her eyes go wide and she swallows the food in her mouth. "...delicious. Hey." She says weakly.

"Hey. You've got something on your face." Asami chuckles.

Korra walks around the bar and sets her food down. She sits next to Asami and wipes her mouth. "Is it gone?" She smiles nervously.

Asami nods smirking. She swivels the bar stool around and stands up, taking off her jacket. She throws it over the couch, and heads into the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle. The top comes off, and she tilts her head back, taking a sip. She turns around and sees Korra watching her. "Yes?"

Korra had just been caught staring, but isn't deterred in the slightest. "What's it like, where you work?" She asks, curiously.

Asami is taken aback. She wasn't expecting that question of all things. "You know, I own the company I work at, right?" Korra nods, inhaling her sandwich. "Well on days like today, I go down to the factory and help the line workers. On busy days I have to read a bunch of papers, sign off on contracts, and have a few meetings."

Korra leans forward on the bar, and puts the side of her face in her palm, thinking. "So… can you just take time off, whenever you want?"

Asami nods. "Yes, but I don't like to, because it's not fair to the other workers, and it's definitely not fair to my assistant. I do take Sundays off. Unless it's a big meeting."

Truthfully, she didn't have to work weekends at all. Her father didn't and he had a harder time managing his schedule than Asami did, but she engrossed herself in her work, whenever she could, because whenever she wasn't working her thoughts were plagued by her father. She only stopped working Sundays, because her assistant insisted she take a break.

"Do you have any meetings scheduled tomorrow?" Korra asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

She really didn't want to spend another day alone in the house with nothing to do. Plus she'd have time to hang with Asami. Asami was a mystery, that she found herself wanting to solve the more she spent time with her.

Asami smirks. It seems Korra had missed her. "No. I'm completely free tomorrow." She looks at Korra and tilts her head, wondering if she remembered their encounter this morning. "Do you remember me waking you up earlier today?"

Korra shakes her head. "No." She keeps destroying her sandwich. "Should I?"

That explains why Korra hadn't shown up at her job, Asami concludes. "Not really. What did you do while I was gone?" She really was curious.

Korra points at the backdoor. "I used your gym for a few hours. Bolin came by a few times. That's where these chips and soda came from." She gestures to the food on the bar, then blinks. Where were her manners? "Do… do you want some?"

Asami struggles to hold back her laugh, and shakes her head. "No, thank you. What were you doing in the gym? I thought you weren't supposed to put weight on your ankle."

"I didn't. I just did some upper body stuff." She flexes one of her biceps. "My shoulders and back are still a little sore, so I kept it light." She frowns.

Asami's stomach clenches at the sight. She averts her eyes and clears her throat. "Ahem. Well… I need to take a shower." Her eyes are still lowered as she leaves the kitchen.

Korra notices Asami's weird behavior. "Okay… Can we watch some movers when you finish? You have some I've never seen." She says softly. "It's just, I work a lot, so I don't really have time to watch much TV. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Asami considers turning her offer down, until she turns around. Korra had her eyes lowered, locked onto her empty plate, with a faint blush over her cheeks. No matter how scared Asami was of her feelings for Korra, she couldn't treat her coldly. It was her fault Korra was stuck here in the first place. She didn't even want to be here. The least Asami could do was spend time with her. Besides, after this weekend, she wouldn't have to see Korra again, so there was no harm.

Asami decides she won't filter her feelings, for the rest of this weekend. With a smile she looks at Korra and replies. "Sure."

"Really? That's great!" Korra beams at Asami.

She was sure Asami was going to blow her off. Ever since they left the hospital, Asami had become, oddly, detached and cold. She wasn't sure if it was her fault or if that's just how Asami was, but she was going to try her best and get Asami to have fun with her.

They spent the next few hours watching movies, laughing and crying together. All in all, Korra was having the time of her life. Asami was like a whole new person and Korra loved it. Asami seemed less tense and more happy. Korra felt weird seeing Asami smile without that cloud of emotion behind her eyes. She didn't know how to describe the feeling, but she knew that she liked it and wanted more of it.

"Do people really do that?" Korra asks, pointing at the huge screen.

"What go on dates? I'm sure they do Korra." Asami snickers.

Korra rolls her eyes. "I mean, do couples really go on dates with other couples like that?"

"Yes. They're called 'double dates'. People usually go on double dates with their best friends."

"Have you ever been on a double date?" Korra turns her attention to Asami.

"No. The closest things I have to best friends, are my ex-boyfriend and his brother. And we don't talk much. Kind of pathetic, huh?" She turns to Korra with a small smile.

"Not to me. My best friend's a dog." She beams. "And my last relationship was a joke. I, uh, sorta dated Mako for a few months after you guys broke up. We decided, we'd be better as friends, since all we did was argue." She snorts. "He was one of my few boyfriends. If I can even call the other few that. We didn't even kiss. Mako was my first kiss."

Asami is shocked by this information. "What? Why haven't you been in any other serious relationships?"

Korra grins a proud smile and that shocks Asami even more. "I was too busy helping my dad stabilize The Southern and Northern Watertribes. There was almost a war between the two but my dad and I managed to smoothly work things out. Now the Watertribes are more connected than ever."

Asami leans back, hugging a throw pillow. "I remember that. Varrick almost convinced me to ship weapons to the south. I'm glad you guys resolved it peacefully, otherwise I would've made a huge mistake."

Korra shrugs. "I just like helping people. That's why I moved out here to get my degree in political science and law. I wanna help everybody."

Asami hugs her pillow tighter. She thinks about all of what Korra had just told her. Korra really was a selfless person. She gave up any chance she had at a normal relationship, so she could help her people. And she did it. And now she was willing to move across the world to help more people.

Asami looks at her family portrait sitting on the end table next to her. Maybe Korra would do something about the street gangs that tore her family apart. She did say she wanted to help everyone. That included Republic City right?

Korra lowers her eyes to her lap and thinks about what Asami had just said. She hadn't had many friends growing up either for whatever reason.

She turns her head toward Asami again. "Maybe we'll end up being best friends." One could only hope.

Asami's eyes focus on her father. "Maybe." There was no chance.

Korra catches Asami's gaze and looks at the portrait. "Oh yeah. I found that sitting on the couch. You guys look like a nice family."

Asami glares at her father and clenches her teeth. "Yeah, we were."

"Huh?" Korra looks back at Asami confused. Did she say something?

"Excuse me." Asami abruptly stands and storms into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Korra sits wondering what just happened. She whips her phone out of her pocket and sends Mako a text.

 **Korra: Hey Mako?**

 **Mako: Korra! Hru? Bolin told me you were in an accident**

 **Korra: I'm fine, thanks. Can you tell me what happened to Asami's parents?**

 **Mako:… What?**

 **Korra: Can't you read? What happened to her parents?**

 **Mako: Her mother was killed by some gang members when she was younger. Her father made some weapons and sold them to rival gangs to wipe them out. He's in prison**

 **Korra: Thanks Mako**

 **Mako: Np?**

Korra sighs, realizing her mistake. How could she be so stupid? Of course, she couldn't have known about Asami's parents, but it was obvious something had happened to them. Asami lived alone for Spirits sake!

Asami paces her room, walking back and forth with hot, angry tears streaming down her face. She wasn't mad at Korra. Korra had done nothing wrong. She couldn't have known about her parents. She usually could control her anger when she thought of her father. But she'd dropped her mental walls earlier that day and her anger just burst like a dam.

She sits on the bed trying to regain her composure. Fifteen minutes later she opens her emotionless eyes with a blank expression on her face. She quietly opens the her bedroom door and pokes her head into the living room.

She sees Korra slap her hand to her forehead, berating herself. "Stupid! Nice going Korra. You really know how to screw things up."

Asami clears her throat and Korra spins around startled. "Oh. Uh, hey Asami." She chuckles nervously, then her shoulders deflate. "Look I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" She's cut off by Asami's monotonous voice.

"Don't. It's not your fault. I'm going to bed." And with that she spins on her heel and heads into her room.

Korra sits, stunned speechless. She sighs and decides she should turn in too. Turning off all of the electronics in the living room, she heads to the guest bed room and lies in darkness for a thirty whole minutes, before finally dozing off.

* * *

 **Sometime in the middle of the night...**

Asami tosses and turns in her sleep. She murmurs unintelligible words as sweats starts to form on her pained face.

She looks around confused, not knowing where she is. She tries to stand, only to fall back to the ground. Her wrists and ankles are shackled. She sees movement out of the corner of her eye. She turns her head and sees her father watching her, with disappointment on his face.

"What a shame. You and I could've revolutionized the world. But instead you turn on me, your own flesh and blood. Do you not understand what I was trying to do? I was avenging your mother! If it wasn't for you, those thugs that took her from us wouldn't still be walking around, free to take what they want and do as they please!" Hiroshi spits.

Asami looks at him and glares daggers. "Oh please. Don't drag mom into this. You sold them those weapons, because of your own twisted sense of justice. What about all of the innocent people they used those weapons on, huh? The innocent people caught between the crossfire you started. You're no better than the people who took mom away." She growls at him.

Hiroshi sighs, shaking his head. "Ungrateful child."

The shackles around Asami's wrists and ankles begin to fade away. As they do, Hiroshi walks out of a door, leading outside, into a grassy meadow.

Asami immediately follows after him. "Where do you think-"

She slams the door open and is shocked by what she sees. Where her father was supposed to be standing, was her mother. Asami looks at her with wide, tear welled, eyes. Her mom was right in front of her. Alive and well, smiling at her like she used to.

"Mom?" Asami takes a cautious step forward. She gently walks toward her mother, like she's approaching a frightened animal.

"It's me, honey." Yasuko gives her a small, reassuring smile and opens her arms wide. Asami runs and tackles her mother into a hug.

Asami holds on for dear life, scared her mother would leave her again at any moment. She really was here and in her arms. Everything felt right again. All of her problems immediately lift off of her mind, as she cries, in her mother's arms.

"I missed you so much. Everything's all messed up now." Asami pulls back slightly, to look at Yasuko.

Yasuko sighs. "I know. That's why I'm here. You've been hurting recently haven't you?" Asami lowers her eyes. "When was the last time you were genuinely happy, Asami?"

Asami's mind immediately shoots to her and Korra watching movies together, earlier that day. And then she remembers her father. She looks back at her mother "Mom I can't allow what happened to dad, happen to me. He tried to kill me!"

Yasuko sighs again. She pulls away from Asami and grips her shoulder. "I know your father did some horrible things that have hurt you. You may never forgive him but please try. What your father is, does not define what you will be. And I'll let you in on a little secret. He's got to deal with all of the choices he's made, just as much as you do, if not more so." She winks at Asami.

Asami looks to the ground, taking in all that her mother had said. There was no way she could forgive her father. He'd taken away what little family she had left. But… maybe she could try. She sighs and tries to take her mother's hand, searching for comfort, but finds that it isn't there anymore. She looks up and sees her mother floating away, backwards, with a smile on her face.

"Mom! Please, don't go!" Asami chases after Yasuko, but the distance between them only grows.

"Follow your heart and everything will be fine. I love you, Asami." Yasuko fades from existence.

Asami stops running and spins around looking all over for her mother, sobbing. "Mom? Mom?! MOM!"

* * *

Korra shoots upright, still lying in her bed. She'd heard Asami scream from in her room. She jumps out of bed and runs past her crutches, into the hallway. She bursts into Asami's room, and sees her looking around her room rapidly, a crying mess.

She sits in front of her on the bed. "Asami? Asami, calm down. What's wrong?"

Asami is crying so hard, she can barely breath, let alone speak. She throws herself into Korra's arms and clings to her with all of her strength, like her life depended on it. "P-please. Please don't… don't l-leave… me again." She grips the back of Korra's shirt, afraid she'd leave.

Again? Korra looks down at Asami confusedly. She doesn't know what the hell Asami is talking about, but decides to play along, hoping it makes her feel better, because right now, Asami looks utterly miserable. She chalks it all up to a bad dream. It is the only thing that makes since, to Korra at least.

"Hey, hey, hey. I'm not going anywhere, okay? Come on, lets lay down." Korra moves to lie down next to Asami, but Asami's grip on her shirt tightens. She chuckles and maneuvers her and Asami's bodies to the middle of the bed and lies back against the soft pillows. Asami immediately lies her head on Korra's chest and wraps her arms around her torso.

Korra listens for Asami's breathing to even out. She contemplates going back into the guest bedroom, but decides against it, realizing Asami had her and wasn't letting go. She looks down at Asami and strokes the back of her head soothingly, with a small smile. Korra didn't understand the feelings she had toward Asami but she did understand one thing. She'd do everything she possibly could to make sure Asami never cried like that again.

Korra's eventually grasped by sleep, as the soothing scent of vanilla shampoo floods her nostrils. She and Asami sleep peacefully in each other's embrace.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Happy Holidays! If you don't celebrate, take this early chapter anyway ;P**

 **Chapter 5**

Asami awakens and the first thing she notices, is the scent of a soft sea breeze. It relaxes her, bringing back memories of her childhood and family vacations. She tries to roll over but something is draped over her back. She opens her eyes and finds a body underneath her. She turns her head and sees Korra sleeping, with both arms wrapped around her tightly.

She refrains from panicking, and closes her eyes, trying to remember what happened, and how they ended up in each others arms. After scrambling her brain for a few minutes, she remembers her dream and the events that followed. She sighs, reopening her eyes. She had a lot to think about. She'd have to thank Korra later too.

Asami enjoys the feel of Korra's arms around her for a few minutes longer and decides to get up. She gently slips out of Korra's arms and out of the room.

* * *

Korra rolls over, seeking Asami's warmth. When she doesn't find it, she feels around the bed and finds nothing but emptiness. She opens her eyes and looks around. Asami must have woken up. That's when the most delicious smells ever hit her. She swings her legs off the side of the bed and knocks her crutches over.

"Shit!" She curses herself.

Did she even bring those in here last night? No she bolted right past them and out the door, once she'd been awakened by Asami's screams. Her ever so gracious host must've brought them in.

She picks them up and walks out of the room into the kitchen, where she sees Asami stirring something with earbuds in. Asami is dancing and humming to whatever she's listening to, so Korra decides to sneak up on her. Right as she gets behind her, Asami turns around and takes one earbud out with a smile.

"Hey. Breakfast is almost ready." She struggles to hold in her laughter, at the pout on Korra's face.

"How did you even know I was behind you?" Asami shrugs, as Korra takes in the feast she'd prepared for them to eat.

There were two large stacks of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and Asami was currently cooking grits. Korra's mouth started to water and her stomach growled.

"Uhh. What's the occasion?" Korra asks, as she takes a seat at the bar, watching Asami cook.

Asami beams and turns toward Korra. Korra is shocked. That's the biggest smile she'd ever seen on Asami.

"I just wanted to say thank you for last night. I'm sorry if I woke you. And I'm sorry for how rudely I acted." She says, referring to when she stormed out of the living room.

Korra waves her off. "It's no problem. I'm sorry if I brought up some bad memories or something. It was insensitive of me."

"Well, regardless I still want to thank you for staying with me last night. And I have the perfect day planned just to show how grateful I am." Asami turns back to the stove and moves the pot to the counter.

Korra watches Asami make two plates and takes hers. "Thanks. So what are we doing?"

Asami shakes her head and smirks mischievously. "It's a surprise. Just get dressed and you'll see."

Korra can't help but smile and raise an eyebrow. Asami seemed to be in a better mood, than yesterday. "Alright then, bossy."

* * *

Thirty minutes later and they're in the car. Korra hadn't paid any attention, the other two times she was in Asami's car, but Asami drove like a maniac. She never took her foot off of the gas, and made impossible openings for herself. As odd as it sounded, Korra wasn't scared in the slightest. Of course Asami had run her over a few day ago, but now she looked like this was what she was born to do.

As Asami stops at a red light her phone starts ringing. She quickly glances at the name, and answers with a sigh. "Hello? What's up, Li?"

Korra turns toward her, and listens to her side of the conversation.

"Really? Right now? Okay, I'm on my way." Asami ends the call and looks at Korra with an irritated smile. "Quick little detour? I promise it won't take long."

Korra shrugs. "Duty calls, right?"

Asami makes a sharp u-turn and they speed down the street, until they end up in the parking lot of a large building with the words, 'Future Industries' across the top, in gigantic letters.

Asami steps out of the car and starts walking toward the building, then abruptly stops. not hearing Korra's door. She turns around and motions for Korra to come with her.

Korra gets out of the car with her crutches and walks up to Asami. She gives Asami an uneasy smile. "Are you sure you want me to come with you? I'm not good with professional settings."

Dealing with her father in politics, Korra had had her fair share of experiences, with stuffy and uppity people who thought they were entitled to every and anything they wanted. Everyone always tiptoed around each other in such environments and did things in a shady, underhanded way. They would even hide their smart remarks behind compliments.

But Korra was never very subtle and always handled things head-on. Dealing with shady businessmen and politicians was no different. She couldn't help it. It wasn't a lack of respect. She just couldn't be subtle if she tried.

She didn't want to embarrass her host, at her own job. She didn't care how people thought her personality made her look. But she didn't want Asami to be judged because of her, like her father was. Of course she always felt terrible any time anyone said anything, but he usually never cared very much it seemed. He'd laugh as if his reputation was a joke.

Asami frowns. Korra had to be the nicest person she'd ever met. What problems could she ever cause? "Of course I want you to come, Korra. If anything happens, just blame it on the pain from the accident." She smirks.

Korra still looks skeptical about entering Asami's job, but she gives her host, a small nod anyway.

Gesturing for Korra to follow, Asami walks through the front doors, holding them open for Korra. She greets the security guard before calling the elevator. The doors open with a ding and they both walk inside. They ride to the top floor in silence.

Korra looks at Asami out of the corner of her eye. Wondering if her host's family portrait, caused her to have the nightmares. What kind of question was that? Of course it was the portrait. She considers asking her, how she's feeling, but decides against it, not wanting to bring up negative emotions, since she seemed somewhat happy at the moment.

She wouldn't know how to comfort her anyway. What would she know about losing one's parents? If Asami needed someone to talk to, she would gladly lend her both of her ears. No one deserves to suffer alone. Especially her. Even Korra could see, Asami had been through enough, and they just met, what, two days ago?

The elevator reaches the top floor and they both get off, entering an empty room, with a gorgeous view of the city, occupied by one person. A small blond woman with golden eyes hidden behind frames, looking to be in her mid-thirties, sits behind a desk going through papers.

She looks up at them as they exit the elevator, and eyes Korra curiously. It had been a long a time since Asami brought someone to the office. The only person being Mako, and he only showed up uninvited, never with Asami's direct permission. After her father's arrest she quickly changed that, however.

"Ah, Miss Sato. The Fire Nation, has requested, that you make your final decision on the contract, immediately, as they have many offers, on the plots of land you requested." She says, handing Asami a thick packet of papers.

Asami nods as she skims over the contract. It makes sense. The Fire Nation had only just recently, gotten rid of their monarchy, in favor of a democracy after years of protest. Of course, they'd be busy with other changes, too.

"I've looked into the contract, prior to your arrival and everything seems to be in order." Li says, watching Korra, walk over to the, floor to roof, windows on the other side of the room, with a curious glint in her eye.

"Thanks, Li." Asami says, grateful for her assistant.

Korra looks at Republic City, from the highest floor in Future Industries, in amazement. She reaches into her pocket, reaching for her phone, so she can capture the breathtaking view. She frowns meeting an empty pocket. She checks all her other pockets and meets the same fate.

Asami makes her way to the giant door, leading to her office, across from the elevator. She opens it and steps inside. She looks over her shoulder at Korra then back into her office, not noticing her assistant's gaze, during her mental debate.

"Come on in, Korra." Asami gestures for Korra to follow her inside her office.

Korra greets Li, with a sweet smile as she passes her desk. "Morning."

Li, looks up from whatever she was reading and grins, seeing the smile on Korra's face. "Good morning..." Li says, silently asking Korra's name.

"Korra." The injured woman extends her hand.

"Nice to meet you Korra. I'd introduce myself, but you've already heard my name, and if you haven't, you couldn't have possibly missed the name tag." She grins further, as she shakes Korra's hand, referring to the large name tag sitting on her desk.

Korra nods. "I noticed it before I noticed you." She says, before her eyes widen in worry. "Er, not that you're not noticeable or anything. I- I mean you're a very attractive woman. Not that I'm attracted to you or anything. What- what I meant to say is, you must go on lots of dates. Not that you can't keep a man! Or Woman! I don't judge. Not saying-" Korra's flustered, babbling is cut off by Li's raised hand, signaling her to stop.

Li has her head lowered to her desk, as her entire body shakes with silent laughs. When she finally lifts her head up, she has tears in her eyes, and her face is beet red. "Whew! Spirits kid, you almost killed me." She giggles, the thought of Korra's flustered face still tickling her. "As funny as this was, I don't think you should keep Miss Sato waiting."

Korra's eyes widen once again, having forgotten about Asami, during her mini crisis. She moves as quickly as her crutches allow her into Asami's office, not wanting to seem rude.

When she steps inside the door, she notices Asami sitting behind a large desk, looking at the papers, Li had given her, intensely. She sits in the seat directly in front of Asami's desk and straightens to her full height and clears her throat, successfully gaining her host's attention.

"Ah, yes Miss Sato. Thank you for having me. I'd like to buy _every last one_ of your Sato-mobiles. Before you answer, I'll make you a deal you simply can't refuse. _Three entire, wholesomely whole,_ yuans." Korra says, in her best stuffy impression. She looks at her fingernails as though bored, awaiting Asami's answer.

Asami bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, deciding to play along. "I'm afraid you're out of luck Ma'am. I don't personally deal with the selling of Sato-mobiles. I just make them sadly."

"Surely there is something we can do. I want to buy my Sato-mobiles and I want you to be my saleswoman!" Korra huffs.

Asami pauses, as her eyes flick behind Korra, for the briefest of moments, before landing on Korra again. "I… believe we have reached an impasse."

Korra opens her mouth, about to reply when she's suddenly cut off by a voice behind her.

"I'd happily sell you the sato-mobiles, if you tell me how attractive I am again, Madam Korra." Li guffaws as Korra shoots out of her chair, blushing wildly.

"Goodness gracious, Li! You almost made me break my other ankle!" Korra exclaims, face burning.

Li clutches her stomach, releasing small giggles, as she walks out of the office. "I'm sorry, Korra."

"You better be sorry. You should be fired." Korra mutters.

Asami suddenly jumps up out of her chair. "Finished. We can finally get out of here."

She walks out of her office and hands the papers to Li.

Li takes them and puts them away in her drawer, before leaning forward, resting her face on her fist. "What do you two have planned for today?"

"I'm taking Korra somewhere nice. It's a surprise, since I… sorta hit her with my car. And she helped me with something important yesterday." Asami says lowering her eyes.

Li gasps and her eyes widen. "I'm assuming, that's why her ankle is broken?"

Asami nods.

Her assistant sighs, noticing how quickly her boss's mood changed. "Well, don't let me hold you two up. I hope you enjoy your day."

Asami gives a small smile. "Thanks, Li. I'll see you tomorrow."

Korra grins at Li, waving, as she steps onto the elevator with Asami.

* * *

As they approach the final turn, Asami pulls over, searching for something. Once she seems to have found it, she hands Korra a headband.

Korra looks at it, amused, already knowing Asami wants to surprise her. "What, is that supposed to protect my eyes, from my hair or something? My hair's already in a ponytail Asami."

"What? Of course not. Put this over your eyes until we get there, please? It's just down the street." Asami looks at her with puppy dog eyes.

Her house guest puts a finger to her chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "Tell you what. Let me use your, phone to find mine, and we've got a deal."

Korra knows where her phone is. She left it in Asami's guest bedroom on the nightstand.

She just wanted Asami's phone number. She'd been thinking about how to ask for it, the whole ride to wherever the surprise Asami had planned was.

"Sure." Asami unlocks her phone and hands it to Korra.

Korra proceeds to call her phone, pretending to be listening for it to ring. Korra gives Asami her phone back when the voicemail sounds. "Leave a message."

Asami smirks as she takes her phone. "Put the blindfold on."

She watches as Korra slides the headband onto her head and over her eyes. She waves her hand in front of her face, to make sure it was actually blocking her sight. Satisfied that her surprise was going according to plan, she pulls back onto the road and they arrive at their destination, a few minutes later.

She guides Korra inside of a building and leaves her in the waiting room. Asami walks up to the owner of the place and speaks with him before handing him some yuans.

She goes back into the waiting room and crouches in front of Korra, removing the headband from her eyes. "You can look now. We have to wait here for a while, until they call our number."

Korra blinks her eyes open and comes face to face with Asami. Intently studying her facial features, she notices that Asami's lips are moving, but she'd missed every word.

"What?" She asks, with a light blush painting her cheeks.

Asami cocks her head to the side. "I said we have to wait, until they call our number. Are you okay?"

"Heh. Yeah, I'm fine. I just… had a lot for breakfast." She chuckles nervously.

Korra doesn't know why she's acting so weird, all of a sudden. I mean, she'd been staying with this person for two days and never once did she act like this. It reminded her of the feeling she got when she first met Mako, but different somehow. She couldn't decide if it was a good or bad different, but she hoped she didn't act like an idiot anymore.

"Do you wanna go back to my place? I can stop by the store and get some antacid." Asami asks, concerned.

"NO!" Korra says, harder than she meant to. "I mean… No, thanks. I'm fine, really."

Just as Asami is about to respond a number is called out on the intercom. "Ticket number 327."

"That's us! Come on lets go."

Korra follows Asami into another room, filled with a bunch of people, dressed in armor with targets on them, holding guns generating lasers. "Are we playing laser tag?"

"No. Your ankle is in no condition for anything like that." Asami says, as they continue walking towards the back of the large building.

Korra looks around confused. "Then what are we doing?"

Asami looks over her shoulder and smiles, not giving a response.

As they near the back of the building, Korra hears a noise that reminds her of a lawn mower. They walk outside, and Korra's eyes go wide. She beams at Asami. It was a go-kart circuit and it was _huge._ Korra looks at the people in karts at the starting line and notices two empty ones. This would've been great. If she knew how to drive.

"Uh, Asami?" Korra says. nervously fidgeting with her crutches.

"… Yes?" Asami says slowly, noticing Korra's apprehension.

"I, um, I don't know how to drive." She lowers her eyes.

Asami breathes a sigh of relief. She thought Korra hated her surprise. "Oh that's not a problem at all."

She walks off to one of the workers and mutters something to him. A moment later, he and another worker take the two extra karts and drive them away from the starting line. A muscular female worker brings out a two seated kart.

Korra grins at Asami and walks over to the passenger side of the kart. "Hey, can you hold these for me?" She asks the woman working there.

The woman rips her intense gaze away from Asami and smiles at Korra. "Sure. My name's Kuvira by the way."

Korra looks at her cautiously. She didn't like the look she was giving Asami. "Korra."

She slides into the kart and Kuvira hands her a pair of goggles. Asami follows suit and Kuvira walks behind the railing, where family and friends watch the race from.

Asami looks at her confused. "Wait. What about my googles? I'm the one driving."

Kuvira rolls her eyes. "You don't think I see you behind the wheel?" She huffs. "That was the last pair I had on me. Ask Jonji when he comes for the final check. Buckle up for safety." She tells them, smirking at Asami's glare.

They wait, while another worker comes and checks every person, to make sure they're buckled in properly and all have goggles. He hands Asami a pair as he passes her.

Asami huffs, sliding her goggles onto her eyes. She fastens her safety buckles and looks over at Korra who's pouting. "What's wrong?"

"You're the only one with that type of goggles. I wanna be special too." Korra says, trying to keep up the act.

"Aw, is that so? You'll feel special after we dust these guys." She smirks.

Right as those words leave her lips, the light indicating the race has started flashes.

Asami makes quick work of the, obviously, nervous driver directly in front of her.

As they started out in last, the young CEO has her work cut out for her.

She flies past three more karts, coming up to a cluster of three karts battling for first. The two karts in front were trying to overtake each other with the third kart, right on their tails, ready for any opening they may leave.

Asami decides to intervene. She speeds up next to the third driver and boxes him in, between the two cars in front and the wall on his right, he only had one place to go. With Asami coming closer and closer to him, he has nowhere to go, so he slows down, falling behind the group.

The focused racer focuses her attention on the two drivers in front of her, still battling for dominance. Asami notices a small opening between one racer and the wall next to them. She waits patiently as the driver sticks to the other, like glue. And then the space between the driver and the wall opens up, just enough for her to squeeze through, like she suspected.

Once she's far enough ahead, she decides to close in on the kart between her and the other, sandwiching it. Putting her plan into action she turns the steering wheel and gets closer to the driver. The driver, in turn, gets closer to the other racer, forcing them closer to the wall. Just as Asami's kart is about to come into contact with the other, the racer on the wall backs out, falling behind the two.

The one remaining racer, keeping Asami from first place, moves closer to the wall retreating from her. But she doesn't back off. She forces them closer to the wall, as they come up on a sharp turn. Not taking her foot off of the gas, Asami jerks the steering wheel hard, causing the kart's tires to screech in protest. The racer next to her, is forced to brake, so as not to hit the wall, while Asami cuts them off in her wild turn.

Korra looks behind them in awe. She turns back to Asami and shouts, "That was amazing!"

Asami laughs freely, feeling better than she had in years. "Do you feel special yet?"

Korra turns to her and grins from ear to ear. "Hell yeah!"

* * *

They sit in the kart, having just won, waiting for all the other racers to make it to the finish line. As the last kart pulls in Kuvira let's everyone leave their karts.

They both exit the kart and wait for Kuvira to come with Korra's crutches. Kuvira comes up to them with a smirk on her face.

"Nice wheel work. I didn't think a spoiled brat could drive like that." She says to Asami, while handing Korra her crutches.

Right when Asami's about to retort, a kid comes out of nowhere and snatches the clutch purse, loosely hanging from her wrist. But before he can get away he's tripped up, as one of his feet gets swept from under him, by the top end of a crutch.

He looks up and sees Korra holding the end of said crutch, glaring at him. He gulps nervously, knowing he's screwed up.

Korra leans down and lifts him to eye level, by the back of his collar. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Nothin'." He says, quickly averting his eyes.

She quickly drops her other crutch, and grabs his face, forcing eye contact. Kuvira tries to intervene. "I think you should put him-"

"Hey, Vira! Boss needs you ASAP!" A worker yells, with his head hanging out of the door.

"I'll be there in a minute!" She glares at him.

"I don't think you should wait! Sounded important!" He yells back.

"FINE!" She stomps off into the building with him following behind her.

Korra focuses her attention back on the little thief. "Why'd you take her purse?"

He looks up at her with pleading eyes, and it shocks her. "I had to. Please, you gotta believe me."

She sets him down and picks up her crutches. She leans on them and stares down at him with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to figure him out. He couldn't be any older than twelve years old. His clothes looked slightly small and his shoes were falling apart.

She softens her gaze, as she's reminded of Mako and Bolin. "What's going on?" She asks.

His eyes quickly flit to Asami and back to her. "I… can't say."

Getting the hint, Korra walks to Asami. "Hey, give us a second, alright?" She whispers.

Asami's just about to protest when she looks at the boy and her heart aches for him. She gives Korra a nod and walks over to the boy with her hand outstretched.

He blushes and lowers his eyes, realizing he still had her purse. He hands it to her and mumbles a low apology.

Once Asami enters the building, Korra turns back to the boy. "Well? She's gone. Spill it. Why'd you take the purse? It's obvious you didn't want to."

He looks at her with tear welled eyes. "I'm so sorry. I- I had to! They said they wouldn't feed us if I didn't work for 'em!"

Korra looks at him confused. Who was he talking about? "Wait slow down. Take a deep breath and start from the beginning."

"Me and my sister are all alone. The Triple Threats took me in one day, when they caught me trying to steal from 'em. They said I had guts and as a reward they bought me a few burgers. They told me they'd keep feeding me, if I did what they told me to." He says as tears run from his eyes.

"You gotta understand! I don't wanna do this, but I'm all she's got. I can't come back empty handed, 'cause if I have nothing, she has nothing. She's depending on me and I'll do whatever it takes, to take care of her." He says, firmly with tears still running down his face.

Korra sighs. This city is disgusting. This is how grown men treat hungry, little orphan kids? She couldn't even blame him because she'd do the same thing if she were in his shoes.

"Why'd you pick Asami as your target? There were a lot of people here, but you chose her." Korra asks.

"The goggles. That's how they tell me who to steal from. Anybody rich in this city wears those goggles, so I can see 'em."

Korra stares at the ground, thinking. _This doesn't make any sense. If it's the goggles, that means the whole staff is working for The Triple Threats. It couldn't be a coincidence that Kuvira didn't give Asami goggles. Right?_

Her gaze finds him again. "Are the workers all working for The Triple Threats, or are they being ordered on who to target?"

He shrugs, frowning. "I don't know. I just steal from the targets."

Korra throws her head back and releases a groan of frustration. She looks down at him again and notices he's slightly hunched over. "Hey, you okay?"

"My stomach hurts." He shrugs.

It hurts Korra that he acts like this is a normal thing. Nobody should have to experience this, let alone a kid. And he's gotten used to it.

She sighs, then pulls a giant wad of cash out of her pocket. His eyes widen at the large amount of yuans in her hand.

She hands him the money and he looks at her with his mouth open slightly, speechless.

"Take it. Buy you and your sister something to eat, and some new clothes." Korra sighs again.

There goes all of her tips. But she isn't even mad. She had helped to the best of her abilities. Of course she would look into this whole Triple Threat thing later. There wasn't much she could currently do. She wishes she could do more for him and his sister. They didn't deserve to have their childhoods ripped away, at such a young age.

He tackles her into a hug, sobs racking his entire body. "Th-Thank you. Th-Thank y-you so m-much."

He pulls away from her and stuffs the money into his pocket. He sniffles wiping his eyes, but the tears keep falling.

Korra has tears threatening to fall from her eyes now too at this point. "You should go tell your sister, the good news."

He smiles brightly at her and takes off in a full sprint into the building.

She soon finds her way to the parking lot and gets into the car with Asami.

Asami notices her expression. "What happened, Korra?"

Korra breaks down into the tears she was holding, while in his presence. "It was so sad Asami. Him and his sister are homeless, so he goes around robbing people, just so they can eat." She takes a shaky deep breath. "I noticed he was in pain and when I asked if he was alright, he just tells me his stomach hurts, like he's talking about sports. Hell, someone talking about sports wouldn't even be so casual!"

She decides to leave out the part about The Triple Threats. Considering Asami's past with gangs, there was no reason to worsen her mood, and tell her another life was being destroyed, by monsters.

Asami lowers her eyes. "I wish we could've helped him."

Korra nods. "I gave him almost two hundred yuans, but I wanna do more."

Asami stares at her. "What?"

Korra looks at her, confused. "Huh? What is it?"

Asami shakes her head with a small smile. She couldn't believe this girl. "You just did more than most people would've and you still feel like you didn't help. You just made a huge difference, Korra."

"But what about when the money runs out? I don't know, Asami. I just wish-" Asami cuts her off.

"Korra look at me." She does. "How much did you have on you, when you got here?"

"Almost two hundred yuans?" Korra tilts her head, wondering what that had to do with anything.

"And how much do you have now that you gave that kid some?"

"None... I gave him everything." Korra says, starting to realize Asami's point.

"Exactly. You gave him _everything_. Most people wouldn't have given him half. You did what you could Korra and that's what counts. That's how you make a change." Asami smiles seeing the light return to Korra's eyes.

Korra looks at Asami in awe. What she'd just said makes perfect sense. She shouldn't feel bad. She did everything she could and it sure made him happy. If he could be happy so could she. She was also amazed at how quickly Asami fixed her mood.

She and Mako essentially broke up because they could never talk to each other, without fighting, and making each other feel worse. Their relationship was toxic. Their friendship, however is healthy. He was one of the greatest friends she could ask for. But even so, it would have taken him a lot more effort to change her mood.

She turns to Asami with a small smile. "Thanks."

Asami smiles brightly in return. "No problem. Now lets get out of here."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Are you sure I'm dressed nice enough, for this place?" Korra asks, apprehensively.

Asami had decided to take them to dinner, at Kwong's cuisine. Already having called, earlier that morning, they just walked right in, to her usual booth.

Korra was thankful for the gesture, but this was a bit too fancy for her liking. Everyone here is wearing suits and dresses. She feels out of place in her simple jeans and blue blouse. And thanks to her cast, she only has one shoe on! She suddenly hugs her arms around herself, feeling self conscious.

Asami looks up from her menu, at the question, and notices Korra looking around the room nervously.

"Hey." She tries getting Korra's attention but it doesn't work.

She reaches across the table and grabs her hand. That does the trick. "You look fine, alright? And even if you didn't, you came here with me, so no one will say anything."

Korra looks at her, with a confused expression. "What do you mean?"

"I brought Mako here on our first date. You know he doesn't own a suit, right? He actually showed up in sports sandals." She chuckles. "But really, you look great. So no need to worry. Maybe I should stop bringing people here on first dates." She pauses and her eyes widen, realizing what she had just said.

She looks up at Korra and sees her staring back, with a faint blush on her cheeks, and eyes, equally, as round.

"Is… this a date?" She squeezes Asami's hand.

Oh shit!

Asami's entire face heats up as she tries to recover. "No- maybe? I mean… what? I think that-." Before she has anymore time to stumble over her words, the waiter clears his throat.

Asami gladly welcomes the distraction, and rips her hand away from Korra's grip. Not missing the disappointment on Korra's face, she looks up at the waiter and waits for him to speak.

"Good evening you two. May I take your order?" He smiles politely.

Asami takes a deep breath, trying to remember their menu. She hadn't even looked at the menu long enough earlier to decide, on what she wanted.

She just goes with what she knows, since her mind refuses to work properly. "Yes, thank you. Can I have the grilled possum-chicken? Sides included."

The waiter scribbles her order down a pad and looks to Korra. "What would you like?"

Korra shrugs, refusing to meet Asami's gaze. "Just give me what she ordered."

He nods and leaves them alone. They both sit in awkward silence.

Korra fidgets with her shirt, not able to take the silence.

"I'm sorry." They both blurt out.

Asami sighs as Korra's blush deepens. "Korra I'm-" She's cut off.

"I get it, Asami. I really do. I should be apologizing, not you." Korra says with a small smile.

Korra didn't expect anything less. Sure Asami had been in a better mood since yesterday, but she was still going through her problems, whatever they may be.

What she wasn't expecting though, was the feeling of rejection, when Asami snatched her hand away. She shouldn't have feel that way. Technically, if someone had asked the other out it was Asami, since she planned this whole day. Besides, she and Asami were just friends. If even that. Right?

Their food soon arrives, and they both eat in silence, barely speaking.

Korra decides to lighten the mood. "This food is great. I've never had gravy like this. Thanks for bringing me here."

Grateful for the break in tension, Asami's eyes rise from her plate. "You don't have to thank me. I brought you here to thank you, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well, your welcome I guess?" She scratches the back of her head. "I really did have fun, though."

Asami smiles warmly at her. "Me too. This is the most fun I've had in a while actually."

Which is exactly why, she couldn't get any closer to Korra. Anyone she get too close with, always left her, eventually.

So, she could at least make today as fun as possible, before they parted ways forever.

With that in mind, she finishes the rest of her food, and looks to Korra. "Anything else you wanna do tonight?"

Korra pulls her phone out of her pocket and looks at the time. It was getting late and she had work tomorrow, since she was only excused for two days.

"Could you take me back home? It's getting kinda late and I have work tomorrow. Plus I really need to study." She groans.

Korra forces her way through her question. In reality she didn't want to leave. Maybe she should've went with her first thought and said 'you'…

Asami, on the other hand, is glad that Korra's leaving. Sure, they had a lot of fun together. But Korra made her feel things. Things she was scared of feeling. Though she had to admit, she would miss Korra.

"Sure. Just tell me when you're ready to go."

"Thanks..." Korra says, as she studies Asami.

She had sounded way too excited, about getting rid of Korra. Maybe Asami wasn't into girls and Korra grossed her out, with her date talk.

Korra lowers her eyes onto her plate, thinking deeply. "Excuse me."

She rushes out of her seat into the restroom, leaving her crutches behind, with Asami watching in shock. When she makes it to her destination, she stops and looks into the mirror.

Had she been reading the signals wrong? Of course, Asami was a girl, but that didn't mean Korra couldn't tell when there was a mutual attraction. Maybe Asami didn't like girls. Does _she_ even like girls? She's pretty sure she likes Asami.

Korra releases an agitated sigh. This is all so confusing.

She turns the faucet and splashes water onto her face, hoping it calms her down enough to think clearly.

Korra is fairly certain she likes Asami. On a physical level at least. Considering they don't really know each other that much, she isn't sure how deep her attraction to Asami is.

Another thing that crosses her mind, is the fact that she's even attracted to Asami at all. Is she gay? She hadn't been attracted to any other women. Sure, she thinks Opal is very pretty. But she'd never been attracted to her.

Maybe she wasn't attracted to Asami. She'd never had a girl best-friend before, so maybe these feelings were normal.

She dismisses that thought, as her lower stomach tightens, when the object of her confusion walks into the restroom, and their eyes lock.

With her face still dripping, she gives Asami a small smile. "Hey."

Asami tilts her head slightly and furrows her brow. "Are you okay?"

She doesn't answer. She instead focuses on the look in Asami's eyes, finally noticing the bags underneath. "Are you?" She says, not able to contain her concern.

Asami averts her eyes. "I'm fine. Just a bit tired, that's all."

Korra walks over to her and grips her chin, regaining eye contact. "That's _not_ all. Is it?"

Asami's eyes well with tears and she swallows harshly, not replying.

Korra releases her chin and cups her cheek, invading her personal space. "Tell me what's wrong." She whispers.

A tear slides down Asami's face, as she closes her eyes, and leans into Korra's hand. "Korra," She sighs. "I-"

They're interrupted by the restroom door swinging open. Asami steps back, immediately, wiping her eyes.

A woman carrying a toddler rushes past them, paying the two no mind. "Oh, excuse me!"

Asami releases a sigh, as the stall door slams behind the woman. She looks to Korra, once again, who looks mildly irritated, due to their interruption. "You ready to go?"

Korra huffs, glaring at the stall the woman had gone into. "Yeah."

* * *

They sit in the car, parked in front of Korra's building, in silence.

Asami sits, thinking over dinner. She wasn't expecting things to get so… _intimate_. She was glad the woman came into the restroom when she did, otherwise she would've done something she'd regret.

But she can't deny the small twinge of sadness she feels when she turns and sees Korra's pout.

Korra realizes, it probably wasn't the _best_ idea, to be so direct with Asami, about her feelings. But she couldn't help it. All of the events leading up to the dinner, screamed that Asami was in pain. The way she stormed off after they watched the movers together, the nightmare, her fit after the nightmare, and how tired she always seemed. Korra just couldn't stand by idly anymore!

Though as she sits in the car, about to go home, she can't help but think it was all too late.

She sighs, for the hundredth time since they arrived at her building, and turns to look at Asami. Her chest aches. She _really_ doesn't want to go. Maybe they could hang out again sometime…

She sighs again. "Asami I-"

"Korra don't." Asami says almost pleading.

Korra notices, that the tired look in Asami's eyes, is much more noticeable now. "I just wanna say… thanks for a fun weekend. I really enjoyed it." She gives her a warm smile.

Asami gives a small smile back. "I did too. Sorry we had to meet, the way we did."

Korra chuckles. "I'm glad you hit me with your car. I wouldn't have had a reason to stay with you otherwise."

A slight blush creeps over Asami's cheeks.

"I guess it's time for me to get out of your hair." Korra sighs. "Hopefully we can hang out again." She says quietly, before exiting the car.

Asami watches as Korra gathers her things from the backseat and makes her way to her building opening. Korra turns back around and waves before disappearing inside the dark hallways.

With a sigh Asami makes her way back home.

* * *

 **2 Weeks Later**

Whoever said, that distance makes the heart grow fonder, was an idiot. At least to Korra, anyway.

It had been two weeks since she and Asami had last spoken, and she desperately wants to see her.

Everything else in her life had been going perfectly. Her ankle made a full recovery, she passed her Northern Watertribe history test, and they hired another waiter at Narook's, so she always has the entire weekend off.

But she couldn't take her mind off of Asami.

She sits on a bench at the park, scrolling through her phone. She goes to her contacts and her thumb hovers over Asami's name.

"You know, you should just call her." Says a voice, from behind her.

She jumps, haven completely forgotten that she'd told Mako to meet her.

He chuckles, sitting next to her on the bench. "If you miss her that much, just give her call. Though, she might not answer. You could always just show up at her front door." He shrugs.

She debates the two options, before remembering why she'd needed him to meet her. "As thankful as I am for the advice, I didn't call you here to talk about my… friend."

Mako raises a brow at her, smirking. "Friend, huh? Okay. Whatever. What do you need?"

"I need a ride to Lin's house. I would've walked, but it's on the other side of town and Lin doesn't like Naga."

"What? What's going on? You two don't socialize, besides for at the dinners Tenzin invites us to." Mako looks at Korra, with concern clear on his features.

"I don't know yet. I think, I might have something on The Triple Threats."

Mako's eyes go wide and he looks around them, before bringing their heads closer together. "Does anybody else know about whatever this is?" He says, in a whisper.

Korra shakes her head. "No. Well, this one kid does, but he's harmless."

Nodding his head, Mako grips her shoulder. "Korra be careful. These guys are dangerous. They don't play around. And… if you ever need any help, I want you to know, you can always count on me, no matter what it is, alright?" He says, looking at her intensely.

Korra knows that Mako and Bolin lost both of their parents. After their deaths, Mako had to look out for them both, much like the little boy at the go-kart place. He did a lot of things he isn't proud of to care for them.

They both got involved with The Triple Threats, briefly before a lawyer, Suyin Beifong, just so happened to look into their parents' death. After gathering enough evidence, it became clear that the house fire that killed Mako and Bolin's parents, was caused by faulty wiring.

If Suyin hadn't have gotten them the money, to take care of themselves, so long after their parents death, who knows where they would've ended up.

Korra smiles, and envelopes him in a hug. "Thanks Mako."

"No problem. Now let's talk about Asami." Mako smirks, at the blush rising up Korra's face.

"Wh-what about, Asami?"

"You like her." Mako states, simply.

Korra has a mini heart attack. She decides to play it cool. "Yeah, of course I do. She's my friend."

Mako gives her a look. "Yeah, but you like _like_ her."

"What?! No! Don't be weird." Korra's blush darkens.

An idea pops into Mako's head and he fights the smirk forming on his lips. "Oh okay. Well good, because you can do better."

Anger bubbles up within Korra, and she stands to her feet and puts her finger in Mako's face, ready to defend her crush. "Hey don't-"

She stops talking when she notices the expression on his face. He has tears in her eyes and his head's thrown over the back of the bench, trying to catch his breath.

Korra huffs, and stomps off to his car. "Let's go."

* * *

Asami sits behind her desk, glaring at a stack of envelopes on her desk. Hiroshi had sent three more letters, just today.

She had to give him props for his persistence. It was something she always admired about him, but in this instance, it annoyed her. Why wouldn't he just get it through his head, that she wanted nothing to do with him? He was making things harder than they needed to be

Asami sighs, feeling a headache coming on. Massaging her temples, her mind drifts to Korra again. She knew she'd miss Korra, but she didn't know it'd be like this. She found herself thinking about Korra more than not ever since their… date at Kwong's. Who was she kidding? All she thought about was Korra, unless she was actively working, or stressing about her dad.

"Miss Sato?" Li walks into her office, anxiously.

Li had noticed the state Asami had been in, since she and Korra's plans, Sunday. And, to be blunt, it worried her.

Opening her eyes. Asami leans into the hand that was massaging her temple. "Yes?"

"I… I think you should take the rest of the week off. Before you say no, let me finish." She says, effectively stopping Asami's protest.

"You've been working everyday for two weeks straight. And it's wearing on you. Frankly I'm worried about you. Everyone is. You should really consider taking a brief vacation. I'll handle things here, you know that I'm more than capable." Li finishes strongly, crossing her arms.

Emerald eyes close, and Asami redoubles her efforts, massaging her temples. "And what would I be doing for a week, while I dumped all the work on you and everyone else?"

"Really?" Li looks at her with a skeptical expression. "The way you've been working these past two weeks, I'm sure _no-one_ here would protest, to you taking a week off, Asami." Li looks at her, with a soft expression.

Asami reopens her eyes, and locks her gaze onto Li's. Li has only ever called her by her first name while at work, after her father's arrest, whenever she got too overwhelmed.

"And as for what you'd be doing, I was thinking you could spend some time with Korra." She smiles at the blush creeping up Asami's face. "I know you've missed her. I'm fairly certain she's missed you too."

Thinking about what her assistant had just said to her, Asami sits back in her seat. "You really think I should take a week off?" Asami drops the facade, no longer hiding the tiredness she'd been feeling since… forever.

Li's expression switches, to a pout, and she moves to enfold Asami in her arms. "Oh, sweetie. You've needed this break for the greater part of a year. I know you're tired. You deserve a break more than anyone."

Asami squeezes back and holds back her tears. "Thank you L-" She's cut off by the sound of the elevator beeping, outside of her office.

She pulls back and her expression turns stony once more. "Were we expecting any meetings today?"

"No, you had the rest of the week clear of any meetings." Li says as she runs out of the office, closing the door behind her.

Straining her ears, Asami listens to the conversation, on the other side of her door, from behind her desk.

"Excuse me? What are you doing here, you're banned. Miss Sato's orders. I'm afraid you'll have to leave."

…

"Did you not hear me? Stop! I do not have the patience for this. If you take another step towards that door I'll have to stop you myself."

A deep gravelly voice speaks. "You won't touch him."

A moment later the same voice that had just spoken, yelps in pain. The door suddenly opens and Asami is met with the sight, of Li holding a man's arm, deep between his shoulder blades, forcing him to his knees.

Viper stands in her doorway, smirking at her. "Asami Sato. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Li's eyes snap up toward him. "You're not going anywhere near her." She growls.

"Come on Asami? Is this any way to treat a _costumer_?" Viper's smirk grows, at the sight of Asami's glare.

"It's alright Li, you can let him go." Asami nods, answering the silent debate happening within Li.

Grumbling threats, Li pushes the man, by his incapacitated arm, onto his face.

"What about him?" She gestures to Viper.

Asami turns her glare back to Viper. "He can come in." Viper starts walking into her office. "If… he gets rid of his little friend."

She smirks seeing the frown on Viper's face. "I believe he's annoying my assistant."

Sending a brief glare at Asami, he shrugs with his smirk reappearing. "Fine. Riyu, go take a walk until I call for you. This won't take long."

The man in question gets up off of the floor, rubbing his shoulder. He shoots Li a glare, as he walks to the elevator. "You got it, boss."

Viper walks into Asami's office, closing the door behind him. He turns the chair, across from her, backwards and takes a seat.

He rests his arms against the back of the chair and leans forward, grinning smugly. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the long gap in between updates. I won't make any excuses _but_ , life has been hectic lately. I'll try to update more.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

 **Chapter 7**

"… and then we just left the restaurant. She took me home, after." Korra says, recounting the events of her dinner with Asami, to Mako.

Nodding, Mako makes a turn into a, fairly nice, neighborhood. The houses are big. Easily triple the size of Korra's apartment.

"Don't take it personally. Asami pushes everyone away. Honestly, I'm impressed. You've actually made the most progress with her."

"What? We haven't spoken in two weeks. If that's progress, I don't want to know what her pushing me away is." Korra snorts.

Mako pulls over, in front of a house with a police car and a sedan in the driveway. Korra moves to exit, but he grabs her shoulder, effectively halting her exit.

"I'm serious. It's not that she doesn't like you. She's got it worked into her head, that anyone she cares about will end up leaving her. Like she's cursed or something. So, she cuts them loose, before they get ripped away."

"That sucks." Korra huffs, falling down into her seat dejectedly.

Thinking over everything she knew about Asami, Korra muses that it isn't unfair of her to have such fears. Though it isn't fair to herself, to just give up. But something doesn't make sense to her.

"Why does she feel like that? The only person she's lost, that I know of, is her mom. Her dad might be locked up, but they can still see each other, right?"

Mako looks to her with a saddened expression. "He tried to- Actually, I think Asami should tell you this. It's not my story to tell."

Understanding, Korra nods. It is kind of rude of her, snooping around Asami's past like that. Besides, who better to explain Asami's feelings, than the woman herself?

Noticing a shift of the curtains in the window, Korra turns her attention to Mako. "I think it's time to go in."

They both exit the vehicle and walk up the pathway, towards the door. Korra raises her fist, preparing to knock, when the door swings open, revealing Kya, beaming at the two.

"Hey guys. What brings you here?" She stands to the side, inviting them in.

Once inside, Korra gives Kya a hug. "Hey Kya. I came to speak to Lin."

Kya's eyebrows shoot up, almost comically. "What could you possibly want with that old grouch?"

"I might have a possible lead for her."

"Hmm." Kya grasps her chin, and looks to the ceiling, pretending to be in deep thought. "I dunno Korra… today was _supposed_ to be her day off."

Korra can't help but grin at the goofy woman. "It won't take long, I promise."

"Oh alright. Let me go wake her." Kya disappears down a hallway.

Korra wonders why, Lin is asleep so early but the thought leaves her mind as they hear Kya whispering while they wait. The whispers get louder, until they just completely stop. A few moments after, they hear Lin yelling in protest.

Kya walks back into the living room, with a satisfied grin, plastered on her face. Lin soon follows in a silk gown, and her hair in a sloppy ponytail she'd obviously just done. She also has Kya's lipstick all over her face.

Korra releases a chortle at the look on her face. "Nice look, Chief."

The angered woman glares at Korra. "What do you want?"

She turns her gaze to Mako and he releases a cough. "Hey Chief."

"I have some information on The Triple Threats."

All eyes lock on her, with shocked expressions, besides Mako.

Lin motions to a couch and couple of chairs. "Well, have a seat and tell me about it."

Korra and Mako sit in armchairs facing the coffee table. On the other side of table, Lin and Kya sit on the couch, practically on top of each other.

The sight makes Korra miss Asami. If Kya could get through to Lin, maybe Korra could crack Asami's shell.

"So? We don't have all day." Lin says, impatiently.

Korra can tell, by the way Lin has her arm wrapped around Kya, that they want to enjoy their time together while she's free. So she'll make this short.

"Right. Well two weeks ago, that Sunday after getting my crutches, Asami took me to this go-kart place-"

Lin cuts her off. "Wait. Asami? Whose that?"

"Remember the girl I was telling you about? The one who hit Korra to begin with." Kya says.

"Oh yeah."

Korra looks at them curiously. Kya had told Lin about Asami? What did she tell her? Hopefully nothing bad. Well it doesn't matter now.

"Anyway, she took me to the place. I don't know what it's called, but it has go-karts and laser tag. I know the location. After we finished racing, some kid snatched her purse. I tripped him before he could get away. He told me that he didn't want to rob her, that The Triple Threats made him rob people, so he could eat."

She stops and looks around at everyone. Mako has his jaw clenched and fists balled. Lin is still staring at Korra with a focused expression, and Kya has a saddened look on her face.

"Apparently the kid is told who to target. The staff gave Asami different goggles, from everyone else. He said that's how he knows who to get. I didn't get his name, but if I saw him again I'd recognize him. Hell he'd recognize me too. I gave him two hundred bucks, so it's possible he could be lying low, until the money runs out. But two hundred yuans can only last so long between one person, let alone two, so it's likely that he's back to robbing."

"What do you mean 'two people'?" Mako asks.

"He and his sister are orphans. He takes care of her." Korra says, sadly.

Mako looks down. "That sounds exactly like me and Bo, a few years ago." He looks back up at Korra. "I'm glad you helped him."

"Why didn't you say anything two weeks ago?" Lin asks.

Korra shrugs. "I was busy with school and work. Plus I didn't want to come so soon after talking to him. If the cops showed up too soon, it's likely that, whoever the corrupt people are, would know he told me about their operation, since at least three workers saw me talking to him."

Lin nods, seemingly satisfied with her reasoning. "I'll check into it tomorrow. Nice work, kid."

Korra grins at Lin.

"How's Asami doing anyway?" Kya asks.

Korra's grin immediately falls. "Uh, good I guess."

Her mind jumps to their last encounter right away. It hurt her to think about, more than she'd like to admit. Screw this. She had to see Asami right now.

"Actually, I'm going to see her after we leave here." She glances at Mako and sees him smiling like an idiot.

Kya suddenly jumps from Lin's grasp, and grabs Korra, dragging her to the door. "Well don't let us hold you two up. You got what came here for. Now scoot." She shoves Korra out of the door and turns to Mako. "You too."

"I'll see you guys around." Mako says, as Kya closes the door.

He walks past Korra's pacing form and gets in his car. "You coming or not?"

Korra looks at him with worry dripping from her expression. "I'm not ready to see her again! What- what if she doesn't wanna see me? Or- or… I don't know!"

Exiting the car, Mako walks towards Korra. He grabs her shoulders. "Calm down."

"I'm scared Mako."

He can see the anxiety, in her frantic eye movements, and decides to do something, before she has a panic attack. "Hold on."

He runs back to the car as she watches. Not understanding his plan, Korra watches on, confusedly, as he digs around in all of his pockets. He pulls out his phone and her heart stops.

Dialing Asami's number, he silently prays that she answers. The voicemail sounds, and he decides to improvise.

"Hey Asami. Yeah, I know you're at work, but I wanted to bring you something." He looks to Korra, then turns back forward. "Sure. Okay, cool! I'll be there in a few."

Pocketing his phone, he turns to Korra again, watching her in amusement. "Come on."

"That didn't help at all, Mako." She says, forcing her feet to carry her to the car, despite the pounding in her chest.

"What? I told her I was bringing something. Just not that it's you. Technically, I didn't lie." He shrugs, starting the car and heading towards Future Industries.

Actually he did lie. But Korra doesn't need to know that. Neither does Asami.

In his mind, Mako figures Asami will be working. From what Korra told him about what happened at Kwong's, he assumes Asami will spend every second possible working. She always buried herself in her work whenever she was stressed. Hopefully that hadn't changed. Or Mako's plan is ruined.

* * *

Asami considers hate to be a very strong word. But as she sits behind her desk, watching this man try and analyze her, she can find no other word to describe the feeling coursing through her. She doesn't let her annoyance show, hidden behind a blank expression. They had been this way for almost a full minute.

"Did you come here just to stare at me? Because if you did, I'm sure you could've found a few pictures on Google, instead of wasting my time." Asami says, almost sounding bored.

Viper chuckles. "I'm just wondering how long it's going to take, until you show your true colors. I heard the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. Does it?" He smirks, obnoxiously.

Asami's face remains blank.

"Straight to business, eh? I like it." His smirk grows, until he's leering at her. "I know you're not stupid, so I won't waste time on details. You know what I want. And you're going to give me what I want, without any resistance. You'll save yourself a lot of time and pain if you just play along, because this is all going to play out, regardless of if you comply or not. You, however, do have a very important role to play. So to make this easier on you, I've come to deliver a message: big things are going to happen. And when they do, _make sure_ you're on the right side. Understand?"

Asami isn't threatened by him in the slightest, but she decides to take this meeting a little more serious with his last declaration.

From the sounds of things, he's working with, or for, some very bad people. Regardless of his involvement with them, whoever this mystery person is, has their eye on Asami.

Maybe if she keeps him talking for a while he'll reveal something she can use. Asami decides to play along, for now.

Leaning back in her chair, Asami analyzes his speech and decides the best way to proceed. "Alright. What does your boss want?"

"The usual. Communication devices. Cars. Guns. _Big_ guns. Bigger than the ones your father made us. But that's not why I'm here, right now. We can sort out the details later. I'm here to find out if we have your full cooperation." His leer is replaced, by a more serious look.

Asami slightly narrows her eyes in thought.

So he is working or someone. She needs to find out who it is and why they need so much stuff. Maybe she can get him to give her some more information.

"What happens if I say no?" Asami knows, full well, what he's about to say.

Viper glares at her briefly, before releasing a deep breath and smirking once more. He stands to his feet and walks to the side of her desk.

He trails his finger slowly across the surface. "If you don't cooperate," He picks up a framed picture of her mother, "well let's just say it won't be pretty." He drops the photo on the ground, and the frame shatters into tiny pieces.

"Get out."

Viper's grin widens. "Whoops. Guess it slipped."

Asami shoots out of her seat and is standing right in front of Viper in an instant, glaring holes up into his eyes. "Get out of my office. Now."

Backing away, Viper raises his hands in surrender. "Whatever you say. I'll be in touch." He says while exiting.

Asami soon follows suit. She has to calm down or something terrible will happen. She doesn't know what, but she can feel it.

"Ms. Sato? Is everything alright? I heard something break. And Viper jus- Ms. Sato?" Li is stopped mid sentence, by Asami's form dashing into the elevator.

"I'm going to take that break we talked about, starting today." And with that, she disappears behind the elevator doors.

Li sticks her head into Asami's office and notices the broken picture frame on the floor. "Oh, Asami."

The elevator ding brings Asami back to reality and she starts the trek to her car, mindlessly. While walking, she ponders what she'll do since she just left work.

A wild idea forms in her mind and she checks the time on her phone. Getting in her car, she makes up her mind and heads for Narook's.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Mako briefly shifts his eyes off the road, and onto Korra. "You haven't said anything since we left Chief Beifong's house."

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

"Well don't. We're right around the corner."

They pull into the parking lot, and sit in the car waiting for the other, to exit.

"What are you waiting for?" Korra huffs.

Mako crosses his arms. "I'm not going."

"What?! Why?"

"I just came to bring Asami her surprise and I did. I never said I was actually going in." Mako grins.

"Fine. Wait here in case I need to make a quick escape."

Mako salutes her, while she exits the car. She enters the building and spots the empty security desk. She finds it odd that the security guard isn't at his post, but doesn't let it deter her. Getting inside the elevator, she clicks the button for the top floor. Once the elevator finally stops she steps out and looks for Li. Oddly enough, her desk is empty too.

"What the heck is going on?" Korra spins around in a circle, looking all around her, multiple times, while scratching the back of her head in confusion.

She walks up to Asami's door and hesitates. "Oh, let me guess," She opens the door, "Wow! It's empty too!"

Despite the weird feeling she gets from the empty building, she enters the office anyway. Maybe something happened and she can find some clues in here.

But after searching the office for a solid five minutes or so, she finds nothing of interest but a loose picture of Asami's mother laying on her desk.

Deciding she shouldn't stick around any longer, she quickly makes her exit. Passing by the security desk, she stops and decides to check it out. She notices a half eaten sandwich and a key card laying on the desk.

"That's weird. Who'd leave a sandwich laying around like this?" She checks for anything else but finds nothing out of the ordinary.

Something doesn't feel right to her about any of this. It could be possible that the guard went to the bathroom. But she doesn't believe he'd still be there after all this time.

She leaves the building and gets back in the car. Releasing a sigh, her eyes land on Mako and she sees him watching her expectantly.

"What?"

"I wanna know how it went, what else?" He says impatiently.

"Oh! She wasn't there. No one was. Not even the security guy." Korra says, looking down at her feet deep in thought.

"What? No one was there?"

Korra doesn't pay him any attention, as her mind races through reasons why nobody was anywhere to be found. She looks around the parking lot and sees plenty of cars, she assumes they must belong to the factory workers and the people who work inside the building doing business junk. Are they missing too?

She starts to get worried for Asami's safety, before she remembers that Mako had spoken to her, a while ago.

"What was Asami doing when you called her earlier?" She asks, with urgency.

Mako looks down and clenches his fists around the steering wheel. "She didn't really answer. It went to voicemail when I called, so I assumed she was in a meeting. I lied so I could bring you here."

Korra grabs his shoulder to get his attention. "It's alright. We wouldn't have come here otherwise, right? And she could be perfectly fine, so let's not jump to conclusions."

Mako meets her gaze, before giving a firm nod. "You're right. Let's go make sure she's safe."

Wasting no time he whips his car out of the parking lot.

"Where are we going?" Korra asks.

"To her house. If she's not there… we'll figure something out. We have to."

Just as Korra's about to respond, her phone rings. "Hello?"

* * *

Asami sits in her car, outside of Narook's, stomaching turning. She's excited about seeing Korra again but she's also nervous.

Korra hadn't tried to contact her at all, in their two weeks apart. Maybe her showing up at her job is a little weird. She could always say she just wanted something to eat. That was the case that night they met. That fateful night.

Deciding she wasn't some scared little kid, Asami quickly fixes her make up before entering the cafe.

This isn't her first time at Narook's. Even though she hasn't been here recently, she used to come here a lot.

She sits at a small table in the corner of the building, near the window, and briefly scans the place for Korra. Not spotting her, her attention shifts to her phone. She notices a missed call from Mako, but decides to call him back later, when her mood is in a better condition.

A full week away from work. What would she do? She could always work from home, but Li was right. She was tired and needed a break.

Her mind wanders to Li, and she finds herself very grateful for the woman. She hopes everything is going well at the factory, since she left so abruptly.

She should've been more cautious, especially with Viper's surprise visit. She'd have to check the cameras, when she got back home.

"Asami?"

She's ripped from her thoughts, and when looking for the person responsible, she's met with Opal.

"Oh hey, Opal. When did you start working this late?"

Opal takes a seat in the empty chair, on the other side of the table. "A few months ago. Right around the time Korra started working here." Opal watches Asami closely, at the mention of Korra's name.

"Oh? Guess I wouldn't have known." She shrugs

Opal slouches slightly, not getting the reaction she was hoping for. "Anyway… you haven't been here in a while. And I know the food didn't bring you back. So, what's up?"

"I had a long day at work, and…" Asami trails off, releasing a tired sigh.

"You wanted to see Korra?" Opal smirks, at the look of shock on Asami's face.

"How'd you know?"

Asami is beyond confused at how Opal could've known she was there for Korra. No one had seen them together besides Li and that Doctor. Her sudden appearance could have given it away. Or maybe Korra had been talking about her…

Opal shrugs. "Korra doesn't work weekends anymore. She's most likely at home. Maybe you could give her a visit." She suggests, knowing Asami wouldn't.

Nodding, Asami stands, ready to leave. Since Korra isn't here she no longer has any reason to stay. "I'll think about it. See you later, Opal. And thanks."

"No problem. See ya!" Opal watches as Asami gets in her car and drives away.

Waiting until she's sure Asami won't come back for whatever reason, she whips her phone out of her pocket and dials Korra.

"Hello? Korra, you won't believe who just left Narook's."

…

"Asami! She was looking for you!"

…

"Yeah! You should totally go see her. She sounds like she just had a horrible day, and she came looking for you, specifically."

…

"You're damn right I am." She says, ending the conversation with a satisfied look on her face.

"Where would they be without Opal, the matchmaker?" Pocketing her phone, she walks back into the kitchen.

* * *

 **A/N: I said I wouldn't make excuses, but you gotta understand. Aside from my life just kicking my ass, fortnite has taken over. And don't get me started on God Of War. I'll do better, I promise ;-;**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

As Mako drives them toward Asami's house, Korra's phone goes off.

Mako swerves slightly at the sound. "Who is it?! Is it Asami?!" He asks excitedly.

"No, but keep your eyes on the road, before you get us killed!" She huffs, angrily, already forgetting about the person on the phone.

"Hello? Korra, you won't believe who just left Narook's."

"Who? Bolin?"Korra says sarcastically, while rolling her eyes. All of these emotions going through her at once are making her a bit irritable.

"Asami! She was looking for you!"

Korra instantly perks up. "Really?"

"Yeah! You should totally go see her. She sounds like she just had a horrible day, and she came looking for you, specifically."

Korra can't fight the grin splitting her face from of such great news. "Thanks, Opal. You're the best!"

"You're damn right I am."

Hanging up, Korra can no longer contain her excitement. "YES!"

"Care to fill me in or..." Mako says looking very confused.

"Asami stopped by Narook's, looking for me. Apparently she had a bad day at work and wanted to see me." She says still grinning widely.

"Wow. You _really_ made progress. So, are we heading to her house?"

"Not yet! I need to go home and make myself presentable." She says, shaking her head vigorously.

"What? Weren't you just gonna go see her, like, a few minutes ago?"

"Yeah but, that was off of pure emotion. I wasn't thinking clearly at the time. Just drop me off at home."

Mako releases a chuckle and shrugs. "Alright."

* * *

Asami enters her home and throws her keys onto the coffee table. She then walks over to the couch and drops down almost lifelessly.

She pulls her phone from her pocket, and opens her messages.

 **Asami: Hey Li, sorry for leaving so abruptly. I just had to get out of there. Call me when you can**

She leaves the message simple, deciding it'd be more appropriate to apologize and thank her over the phone. She'd rather do it in person, but there was no way she was going back there today.

Contemplating what to do, she lies on her couch for a few minutes, before coming to the decision she should check the cameras, she'd had installed at Future Industries.

Dragging her body back into a sitting position, she releases a tired sigh. She then stands and makes her way to her home office. Sitting behind her desk, she starts her computer and opens the footage taken from the cameras.

Watching over the footage, she sees the big guy Viper brought with him, knock out her security guard and drag him into the bathroom. They then get in the elevator and go up to her office. She fast forwards to Viper's departure, and checks the parking lot footage, making sure he hadn't tampered with anything on his way out.

Satisfied he hadn't touched anything, she watches herself leave a few moments later. She fast forwards through the footage, and stops when she notices someone enter her office. Her eyes widen at who she finds.

She rewinds the footage to Korra's arrival, and watches up until she and Mako leave.

Asami is beyond shocked. The last thing she expected to find, while looking over the footage, was Korra, seemingly looking for her.

She tries to fight the smile that forms at the thought, and fails. Korra had missed her. And even showed up at her job.

Maybe Asami should've gone to her place like Opal had suggested. Maybe it's not too late. She still wants to see Korra, and she knows that Korra wants to see her.

Having decided, she gets up from her chair and heads to get her keys. Just as she grabs them, her doorbell sounds.

Who could be at her house? Nobody visits her here.

She opens the door and is shocked to see Korra standing there, smiling shyly.

At the sight of her crush, Korra blushes fiercely, giving a small wave. "Hey."

Asami is too shocked to react. The silence makes Korra nervous.

"Asami? Is it weird that I came here?"

Shaking her head rapidly, Asami regains her composure. "No, I'm sorry. I'm just surprised to see you. Come in."

Korra's smile returns as she enters Asami's house. Her host follows behind her, throwing her keys onto the coffee table once again.

Noticing, Korra looks at the keys. "Were you about to head out?"

"I was uh- No I wasn't."

Asami can't seem to get herself together. It's quite embarrassing, considering she was about to do the same thing to Korra. She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"I went by Narook's today. I wanted… to see you, but you weren't there. Well obviously." She chuckles

Korra sits across from her in front of the coffee table. "Heh, I know. Opal called and told me. I actually went to Future Industries earlier, and nobody was there. Not even, Li."

She looks down before continuing. "It was kinda weird. I thought something had happened. I'm glad you're okay."

"Viper showed up at my job, and I left to clear my mind after my meeting with him. Li was probably on another floor of the building."

Korra looks at her, confusedly. "Viper? Who's that? And what about that security guy?"

"The leader of The Triple Threats."

"What?! Why was he meeting with you?" Korra's eyes widen at this new information.

It worries her. Maybe the little incident at the go-kart place wasn't a coincidence. But if not, why do they want Asami so bad? There are too many things they could want. She'd have to dig into this.

Asami releases a sigh, remembering the meeting. "Apparently he wants more weapons. As if he didn't get enough from my father." She huffs, tiredly.

"… Are you going to give them to him?" Korra asks, carefully.

That question fills Asami with mild rage. "No! Of course not. Why would you even ask something like that?"

"Asami… what'll happen if you don't do what he says?" She's afraid of the answer.

Without missing a beat, Asami shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. This isn't about me. Think about all the people, that could get hurt by his actions if I do what he's asking. What would you do, in my position?"

Once again lowering her eyes, Asami understands her answer.

"Exactly. Don't worry. I'll be fine." Asami can clearly see, Korra is worried about her. She wants to comfort her, but doesn't know how.

Korra on the other hand, is deep in thought, trying to make sense of the situation and formulate a plan against The Triple Threats.

Something just doesn't click though. From what she'd read, The Triple Threats were the most active gang in Republic City, the others hardly able to call themselves gangs anymore. So what could they possibly need more weapons for?

Regardless of their plans, she had to keep Asami safe. Along with everyone else.

"Did he leave any way for you to contact him?" She suddenly asks.

Asami releases a yawn before answering. "No. He just said he'd be in touch. I'm assuming he's just going to show up at my job again." She yawns again.

Nodding, Korra takes in the information. She doubts he'll show up at her job again, after doing whatever he did to her security guard.

But then again, any time he was arrested, the charges never stuck, so he might not care.

"When do you go back to work?"

"In a week. I'm taking a break for a while."

That's good. It gives Korra time to look into the matter more, before Asami gets involved again.

Deciding she'd learned all she could from Asami, Korra relaxes a bit.

A week away from work leaves Asami with a lot of free time. Maybe they could spend more time together.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" She asks, only to look up and see Asami sound asleep, outstretched on her couch.

Letting out a quick chuckle, Korra walks over to Asami's sleeping form and gently lifts her, into her arms.

Asami grumbles a bit and her eyes open slightly. She looks up at Korra, and whispers a quiet thanks, before dozing off, again.

Korra walks into her bedroom and lies Asami in her bed. She removes her shoes, and puts a blanket over her. Satisfied, she moves to exit the room, but stops at the door and looks over her shoulder.

"Goodnight." She says softly, before leaving Asami's house entirely.

As she makes her way back home, her mind is still on The Triple Threats, and all that Asami had told her.

She walks down the sidewalk and thinks about all the great things she'd heard about Republic City, and how they always talked about equality. It makes her wonder just how many people's lives had been ruined by gangs.

Entering her apartment, she slouches into a chair, irritated by her lack of progress. Naga bounds down the hall, and lies her head in Korra's lap, releasing a whine.

"I know girl. I wish I could help too. But I don't know what to do. I need more information before I can do anything." She pouts.

Naga drags her tongue across Korra's face, and pants happily.

Korra laughs at her friends antics, before stopping abruptly. "Naga, I think I've got it!"

She quickly whips her phone from her pocket and brings it up to her ear.

"Chief? Are you awake right now?

* * *

"Absolutely not." Lin says with a stern look in her face, as she crosses her arms.

"What? Why?! You know my plan is foolproof!" Korra truly doesn't understand why the Chief won't let her help. She's not some little kid.

She'd proposed, that Lin let her go undercover, and work at the laser tag place, to gather any information possible. It made sense, to her at least. Why would they suspect her of having any other business there, besides working.

"I admit it is a good plan, but there's one problem. If any of them know about what you did in the Watertribe, there's no way they'd let any information slip around you. It'd just be a waste of time."

Korra frowns, briefly thinking over what the Chief had said.

"I doubt any of them would know me. It isn't like we ended a war, in progress. It was just political stuff. Only politicians and people from the Watertribes know about that." She says while shaking her head.

Releasing a sigh, Lin rolls her eyes. "Look, I can't stop you from getting a job at that place, but I certainly won't help you. It's too risky."

"Understood. Thanks anyway."

Without another word, Korra leaves Lin's house and is on Naga's back.

Riding around Republic City aimlessly, Korra thinks that the Chief's concern is unwarranted. She understands what she was saying, but what really are the chances of someone from that place knowing about anything in the Watertribes?

Besides she can't just sit by and do nothing any longer while these guys make preparations, for whatever they're planning. Having the power to help and not doing so, is just as bad as committing the crime.

With that thought in mind, she decides to check the place out, regardless of the Chief's warnings.

* * *

Awakened by a stream of sunlight, shining through a small opening in her curtains, Asami wakes up early the next morning. She rolls over onto her back and stares up, at the ceiling. She wakes up in a slightly better mood than the one she went to bed with.

Feeling better than she had in a few months, she contemplates on what she should do today. She knows she should go up to the campus and check in with her professors. Maybe she'll spend some time with her friends. It has been awhile since she'd hung out with anybody besides Korra, and that was two weeks ago.

Finally out of bed, with her mind made up, she realizes she feels a bit less tense than she usually does. Apparently she really did need a break. She'd have to thank Li a hundred more times. Maybe she could visit her for lunch.

As she walks into the bathroom, she thinks about everything Li has done for her. For as long as she can remember, Li had always been there. Even before her mother's death. Having been Hiroshi's assistant also, Asami had formed a bond with her early on in life. That bond intensified after she lost her mother. After her death, Hiroshi buried himself in his work, not as much as Asami does now, but enough for her to miss him as a kid. Being aware of how Yasuko's death affected them, Li did a lot of things for Asami, she didn't have to. And Asami is eternally grateful for that reason.

Exiting the bathroom, she quickly grabs something to eat, and changes into something more suitable, than the towel she'd wrapped around her body, after her shower. With all of that out of the way she heads to RCU.

She hadn't been there in a while, but her teachers usually emailed the assignments to her, since they knew how important it was for her to keep the company running, after turning her father in, and considering they all drove SatoMobiles and used SatoPhones.

She'd still pop in every once in a while when she got free time on her hands, just to make sure everything was alright. Plus it made the professors happy.

Some of the students find it unfair, that she doesn't have to come to classes. Sometimes they'd call her names like 'spoiled brat' and things along those lines, but she's used to it. It also doesn't help her reputation, that she broke up with the school's quarterback. But she doesn't care what they think. People had been harassing her, her entire life, especially after her mother died.

Pulling into the campus parking lot, it's not as many people as it usually is, because it's Sunday and most of the classes start later in the day. Quickly parking, she exits her car and enters the building. She gets a few stares, but nothing out of the ordinary.

A couple of rooms away from her first class she passes two girls and a guy standing together talking. One of the girls turns her way as she walks by them.

"Hey, rich kid. Finally going to class, huh?" She says, making the other girl laugh.

Asami turns her head in their direction, while still walking, and gives a shrug, causing the girl to frown slightly.

She sees all of her profesors, that are there today, without any problems, and everything is as it should be regarding her school work.

She now sits in her car, deciding whether or not she should see her friends. Opening her text messages, she creates a group chat and adds Opal, Bolin, and Mako. She would add Korra but she doesn't know her number.

 **Asami: Hey guys. Ik we haven't really hung out in a while so I was wondering if we could all meet up at Narook's?**

 **Bolin: Hey Asami! Mako and I are down**

 **Opal: Count me in too**

 **Asami: Great! Could one of you guys invite Korra? I forgot to get her number**

 **Opal: Sure. What time?**

 **Asami: I'm free for the rest of the day**

 **Bolin: An hour?**

 **Opal: Perfect!**

 **Asami: I'll see you guys there**

Now that it had been planned, Asami's a little excited to see everyone again. She can't remember the last time she actually hung out with them. Of course they'd see each other every now and then, but they never really hung out anymore. Or at least, she didn't hang out with them.

She feels like a terrible friend. What kind of person ditches their friends for months on end? Well she'd make it up to them.

Leaving the campus, she heads to the mall. She know presents won't change anything, but maybe they'll help, in showing how sorry she is for being a bad friend. She stops by a few stores, looking around for anything that catches her attention, and just screams her friends' names.

After visiting a few stores, she spots a book that catches her eye. She picks it up and realizes, it's a book of poetry. She decides to buy it for Opal. Searching through a few more stores, she somehow ends up in a gaming store. She decides to look around, since she knows Bolin loves playing video games.

"Hi. Can I help you?" The guy behind the counter asks.

Stopping her aimless search, she turns towards the man. "Actually, I don't even know what I'm looking for." She chuckles. "I'm buying a gift for my friend and all I know is that he likes to play games."

"Does he like sports?"

"Yeah, He plays for RCU."

The guy perks up a bit. "Oh yeah? What's his name?"

"Bolin."

"WHAT?!" The guy shouts, causing everyone in the store, and a few people passing by, to look at him.

He disappears, behind a door for a bit and comes back with a game in his hands. "Is this him?"

"What the- Yeah! That's him." Asami grabs the case of the game and looks it over.

On the cover are both, Mako and Bolin. Why didn't they tell her about this.

Asami looks back to the man surprised. "When did this release?"

He shakes his head. "It didn't. It comes out in two days."

"Damn." Asami lowers her head.

"You can still buy it, if you want. Just tell Bolin to shop here if he ever needs new games." The guy smirks.

"Thanks."

After leaving the store she wanders around aimlessly, yet again, trying to find something suitable for her friend. She makes her way deeper into the mall, and she sees a set of antique Fire Nation dual blades for sale.

She quickly enters the store and purchases them. Satisfied with her present for Mako, she head towards the exit. As she's walking towards the exit, a small patch of color catches her eye. She enter the store the color came from, and spots the culprit. A beautiful necklace with a deep blue mineral hanging in the middle.

She picks it up and studies it. As she watches the mineral shine, and reflect the lights in the room, she's reminded of Korra. She can't believe she almost forgot about her. She deserves a gift too, after all, plus it would be rude of her, to buy everyone else gifts and leave Korra out. Hopefully she'll like it. Asami doesn't know much about Korra and what she likes.

After buying the necklace, she checks her watch, and can't believe how much time she spent in the mall. She only has ten minutes to get to Narook's on time.

Quickly getting to her car, she puts the presents in her trunk, and sets off.

She parks her car, and can see Mako and Opal's cars are already there. Entering the building, she sees all of her friends are sitting at a table. All except Korra. She ignores the slight disappointment she feels, walking over to them.

"Hey guys."

"Oh my Spirits, Asami I haven't seen you in… like forever!" Bolin exclaims, flailing his arms wildly.

Asami takes the only empty seat at the table, next to Opal and Mako. "It hasn't been _that_ long."

"Hey Asami. Korra couldn't make it. She's trying to get a new job or something. I don't know why she couldn't just stay here, with me, but hey…" Opal trails off, with a pout on her face.

It really saddens her that Korra is leaving Narook's. She is one of her best friends after all. Now who's going to cover her shifts when she can't work?

"Oh? Did she say where?" Asami asks, slightly intrigued.

Opal shakes her head. "She just said she was going to the place today and couldn't make it."

Asami briefly wonders, why Korra could be looking for a new job. Granted she doesn't know Korra that well, but from what she could tell, Korra loves working at Narook's. And the people here love her. Maybe she needs more money? That could be it.

As she continues thinking, Mako just watches her, waiting for her to notice his presence.

"Bro stop staring at Asami like that, you're creeping me out." Bolin says, with a disgusted look on his face.

"I just wanted to see how long it would take her to greet me, that's all. I know, I'm not Korra, but come on." This response confuses Bolin, while Opal watches on with her mouth covered, to keep from laughing.

Internally, Asami is panicking. How does everyone know about her attraction, or whatever, to Korra? Could she have said something to him?

Externally, she shows none of her surprise, and puts on a smile. "Hey Mako. Sorry for being rude. I just had a lot on my mind. How have you been?"

Mako is impressed with how quickly she changed the subject. "Same as usual. Study and practice, study and practice. That's really about it." He shrugs.

"Don't forget about getting wasted at parties!" Bolin shouts.

"I haven't done that since the twins' party, and you know it."

"Wait, what happened?" Asami asks, lost.

"This guy had his face glued to a toilet two weeks ago, at this party the twins threw." Bolin says, chuckling.

"Wow, Mako. You have really stooped low recently." Asami says, while shaking her head.

"Oh, come on. He did it too." He points at Bolin.

"I'm sorry but you must be mistaken. My boyfriend would never." Opal says, while rubbing Bolin's shoulder.

"Yeah, she's right bro."

Mako glares at him. "Remember that, the next time you need help bench pressing all that weight. I should've just let you choke yourself to death."

"Come on Mako, that's different! I could've died!"

"Stuff happens." Mako shrugs

Just as they get into an argument, a waiter comes up to Asami. "Were you here when I took orders earlier?"

"No, I wasn't. I got here a few minutes ago."

"Oh okay. Would you like anything?" He gets his pad ready.

"No thank- Actually. I'll take a strawberry lemonade and a large fried rice to go, please."

"Coming right up." And with that, he disappears.

"You know," Mako starts, ignoring Bolin. "I'm surprised you called us here today. It's been a while since we all hung together like this." Mako says, with Opal and Bolin agreeing.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just wasn't feeling very sociable for a while. Please forgive me." Asami, says sincerely.

"Of course Asami, that's what friends are for. What kind of friends would we be, if we blamed you for taking some time to yourself, after all that's happened? We just want you to know, you're not alone and we're here for you. Always." Bolin says, strongly.

Asami looks from him to the rest of her friends at the table, and can see the strong emotions on their faces. What did she ever do, to deserve such nice friends? She truly is thankful for them.

She tries to keep from crying and fails, as her eyes water slightly. She wipes them quickly, before any tears can fall. "Thank you guys. And thank you Mako, for coming by my job yesterday."

He looks at her, surprised. "Did Korra tell you about that?"

"No, I saw you two when I checked the footage."

"What happened to you that day? Korra said she didn't see anyone, when she went inside." He asks.

Asami releases a sigh, thinking back over yesterday's events. "I left early. It was a long day, and I decided I needed a break."

Technically, Li decided she needed a break, and that was before Viper chose to ruin her day. But they didn't need to know that.

"Are you going back tomorrow?" Opal asks, curiously.

"Nope. I have the rest of the week off." The waiter comes back with her order and she thanks him, before taking a sip of her lemonade.

"So, are you gonna be going to your classes like normal students this week?" Opal asks, with a smirk across her face.

She really hadn't decided. The thought had crossed her mind, but no final decision made it's way to her. She shrugs. "Maybe. I actually went up there today, before I text you guys."

"Oh yeah? How was it?" Mako says, around chips, that Asami hadn't even noticed until now.

Shrugging again, she opens her mouth to answer, but is interrupted as her phone starts to ring. She digs it out of her pocket, and answers without looking at the screen. "Hello?"

"Hey, Asami. How are you feeling?"

"Li?" Asami looks at her phone, surprised. "Your timing is perfect. I was actually going to come bring you lunch in a bit."

"Please do. I'm starving!" She whines, into Asami's ear.

Asami chuckles. "I'll see you in a while."

She tucks her phone back into her pocket and finishes her drink, before addressing everyone at the table. "I should get going soon."

Bolin pouts. "Aw, you're leaving already?"

"I'm afraid so. But before I go, I want to show you guys something." She gets up and leads them all to the trunk of her car. Opening it, she hands them their gifts, one by one.

"I know gifts can't make up for how I've been acting, but I just thought I should get you all something to show how much I appreciate you."

By the time she's finished talking, Bolin is a sobbing mess. "Oh Asami, you are the greatest friend ever!" He shoots himself into her arms.

Opal soon joins them. "Thank you Asami. You really didn't have to do this."

Mako continues to study the swords, until he looks over and everyone is watching him with expectant looks on their faces. As he slides into the group hug, Opal notices a small bag from one of her favorite shops in the trunk.

"Oh? What's this Asami?" Opal slips out of the hug, and points to the bag.

Asami looks over and sees what's she's pointing at. Panicking, slightly, she realizes there's no way to smooth talk her way out of this one. Only one other person was supposed to be present, who else would it be for? Damn, Korra for trying to make a living. If she was here Asami could've just given her the gift, and Opal wouldn't be looking at her so smugly.

"Isn't that the jewelry place you always go to? Who's that for? Is it yours?" Bolin looks from Opal to Asami, as lost as ever.

Mako decides to join the conversation as well, with a smirk on his lips. "Maybe it's for her girlfriend, Korra."

Asami's entire face heats up. She starts to think she wasn't such a bad friend, for ignoring them after all.

"Whaaat? No way. Right, Asami?" Bolin whips around to face Asami once again, and when he sees the expression on her face, he covers his mouth. "Oh my spirits. It's true isn't it? But how- when did you- …what?! I'm so confused!"

"Don't worry about it." Opal says, pulling him a short distance away from listening ears. "Don't make too much of a fuss about it. I think Asami's just as confused as you are."

Having heard his girlfriend's statement, Bolin calms himself and studies Asami. Opal may be right. Asami never got this worked up over a crush, or whatever is going on between her and Korra. She never acted this way when she was pursuing Mako. Could it be because Korra's a girl too?

"Stop staring." Opal snaps her fingers, a few inches in front of his face, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Anyway, thanks for the gifts Asami. I really… is that me?!" Bolin exclaims as he looks at the case of his new game. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

Asami checks her watch. "Guys I should really get going. It was nice to see all of you again. We should do this again, soon."

Opal was the only one who heard her and gave her any kind of farewell. Mako and Bolin were too busy looking over the game case.

Mako his scratches head. "You know we could sue. They're supposed to pay us for stuff like that. Right?"

Shrugging, Bolin keeps staring at his new gift. "I don't know. All I know is that I look awesome. Hey look, they're smaller ones on the back."

Mako rushes over, and Opal returns to Narook's, having been forgotten.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Asami walks into Future Industries, with Li's lunch in hand. The first thing she notices when she walks in, is the same guard, who had been knocked out and thrown in the bathroom, sitting behind the desk.

She walks over to him. "Hey, Ban. Didn't Li tell you? You can take a few days off. Paid."

The big burly man, smiles up at her from his seat. "No can do Ms. Sato. I feel perfectly fine, so there's no reason for me to take any amount of time off. Plus I gotta redeem myself, for letting those punks sneak up on me."

Asami sighs. There's no arguing with him. If he felt fine enough to work, who was she to tell him otherwise? It's not like she owned the building or anything.

"Well alright. Just take it easy, okay?"

"No such thing as easy!"

Asami shakes her head lightly, as she enters the elevator. She waits patiently for the doors to open, and when they do, she steps out. She looks at Li's empty desk and then to her office door. Standing before the door, she knocks. She can hear Li chuckling, from the other side, before calling her in.

"You know, this is your office right? You don't have to knock." Moving from behind the desk, she meets Asami for a hug. "How are you feeling?"

They pull apart, both sitting on the small black sofa, lined up against the wall of Asami's office.

"Better. I'm already feeling the difference. I got a good amount of sleep last night. And not nightmare filled sleep either." She says, happily. "You were right, I did need a break. Thank you so much. Not just for this, but for everything. I don't know where I'd be without you." She says, gratitude and love filling her words.

Li pulls her into another hug. "I can't let you run yourself completely ragged. Yasuko would never forgive me." She pulls back and settles into her seat. "Now. Where's that lunch you were talking about?"

Asami hands her the bag from Narook's. "Anything to report? A lot can happen in a day."

Before speaking, Li takes a gracious mouthful of rice into her mouth. "Mmmm. Nothinb much. Bunch-a-lebbers." She says, around the rice in her mouth, gesturing to a large pile of letters on the desk.

Asami rises from the couch and walks over to the stack of envelopes. She reads the name on the first one, and her expression blanks. She quickly checks the rest of the envelopes, and confirms they're all from the same person.

"How could he send so many at once?" She whispers, not expecting a response.

"Maybe you should see him." Li suggests, shrugging when Asami looks at her.

"What?"

Asami isn't sure, if she heard Li correctly, or if she's just losing her mind. She can't be serious. Right?

"I'm serious." Oh. "Just think about it. You wouldn't be doing it for him."

A sound somewhere between a laugh and a scoff, escapes her throat. "And who would I be doing it for? Me?"

Li sets her rice down and looks Asami in the eye. "Look, I know you want nothing more to do with him. But even now, he's causing you pain. I think if you see him, and tell him how you feel, you'll feel a lot better down the line."

Asami looks at the envelope in her hand, as if it has all the answers. She respects Li's opinion, she really does, but she can't stand to think about her father. Much less see him face to face. And besides, she's perfectly fine. Just a little stressed.

"I don't need to see him. I'm fine." She says, a little too harshly.

Li simply points to Asami's side and looks at her skeptically. Asami lowers her eyes to see her fist clenched so tightly, that it's trembling. She opens her hand, but the slight tremble remains.

"Asami…" Li starts, softly. Asami's head still snaps up, regardless of Li's soft tone. "You owe it to yourself, to be happy again." She grabs Asami's hand, effectively steadying it. Asami meets her gaze again, and she can see all the emotions, swimming in her eyes. "You shouldn't keep this bottled up. You are one of the strongest people I know, but everyone has a breaking point. _Please_ , think about it. That's all I ask."

Swallowing harshly, Asami nods. "I will." She walks towards the office exit, but stops before leaving. "Thanks again, Li. Love you." And with that, she disappears down into the lobby.

Li, releases a sad sigh. "I love you too, Asami."

Asami sits in her car, with her head resting on her fist, arm leaned against the door. Her eyes are glazed over, as she lets her memories consume her.

" _I know it sounds crazy Asami, but we have to check it out." Mako says, while holding her by her shoulders, trying to make her understand._

 _He had just told her that her father was making weapons for The Triple Threats. She hadn't taken it well. Who would've? It hurt him to see her so wound up, but if what his source told him was true, she'd never forgive him for keeping it a secret._

 _Asami looks at Mako, and can tell he's serious. He wouldn't try to hurt her, if he didn't really believe that something was going on. But she can't give up on her father. Not with everything that's happened to them. She still has faith._

" _Maybe it's a misunderstanding. There's no way." She shakes her head, refusing to believe what she'd heard._

 _Chief Beifong steps in, moving deeper into the house with her officers. "Then you have to nothing to worry about. We'll search the place, and if nothing comes up, we'll leave."_

 _Folding her arms across her chest, Asami bites her tongue. She supposes it's a fair deal, but she still doesn't like it._

 _After following them around the whole house, they end up in the entrance again, right where they started. She looks from Mako to Chief Beifong, and Mako has an emotion of relief and nervousness on his face at the same time._

" _Well? You've checked the entire house, and found nothing. Can you leave us alone now?" She huffs, clearly irritated._

 _Chief Beifong isn't deterred in the slightest. She looks around the room suspiciously. "Where is your father now?"_

 _Asami rolls her eyes. "In his workshop, behind the house."_

 _Lin motions for her men to follow her, and they head of the back of the house. They cautiously walk toward the building, entering and searching. At first glance it just looks like regular workshop, but there's something wrong. Hiroshi is missing._

 _Asami steps forward and looks around worriedly. "Dad? Hello?"_

 _Lin and her men continue searching the shed, until she finds something odd. Inside of the remains of an old car, the entire interior is missing. She opens the door to the car, and beneath it is a tunnel, leading deep underground._

 _Looking at the opening to the tunnel, Asami is shocked, confused, and hurt. The Chief orders her men, down the tunnel, and Asami starts to follow._

" _Nuh uh. You stay here. You keep an eye on them." She motions to a nearby officer._

 _She disappears down the tunnel with her officers. Back above ground, Asami tries to keep her mind off of her father, but is failing miserably._

 _Thankfully a loud noise, from the tunnel, attracts her attention. "What the?"_

" _We need to get down there and see what's going on." Mako says looking down the tunnel._

" _Absolutely not. You're staying put until the Chief comes back." The officer, tasked with guarding them, says._

 _Asami looks at Mako, and gives him a small nod._

" _Alright we'll stay put, but-" He's interrupted by the sound of Asami crying. He looks in her direction, and she's crouched sobbing hysterically. He rushes over immediately. "Hey, are you-"_

" _Don't touch me!" She says, shoving him violently._

 _She almost feels bad for him, when she sees the look on his face. Almost._

" _This is all your fault!" She rushes toward him with her arm cocked back, and in the last second, turns onto the officer, and delivers a swift kick to his head._

 _He slumps over and they tie him to a barrel._

" _Sorry pal. We know you were just doing your job."_

 _Asami turns to enter the tunnel once again, but is stopped by Mako. "Asami you should stay here. I'll check it out."_

" _I have to find out the truth about my father." She says shaking her head._

 _Mako is about to protest again, but the look in her eye leaves no room for him to do so. "Alright. Just prepare yourself for whatever may be down there."_

Her unexpected flashback is interrupted, by the sound of her name being called. She looks over and Rin, a young engineer she works with often, is standing by her open window.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

Rin frowns slightly. "I asked if you were okay. You had this… spacey kinda look on your face."

Sighing, Asami forces a smile for her friend. Rin's a sweet girl, and Asami doesn't want her worrying about her. "I'm fine, thanks. Where are you headed?"

Instantly, Rin perks back up. "Oh! I'm just going to get something to eat while I'm on my break. What about you? Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I'm taking a brief vacation. I'll be back next Monday."

"That's great! I was really worried you'd overwork yourself. You deserve a break." She smiles sweetly at Asami.

"Thanks." She's grateful that Rin had come when she did. That memory wasn't even the worst one, but it still hurt. And thinking back to those times, made her decision that much harder.

* * *

It's late noon, and even with the sun out fully, the wind still carries a bit of a chill. As Korra walks down the street, she zips her hoodie closed to fight against the slight breeze. Finally closing in on her destination, she steps into the building. Walking deeper inside, she looks around until her eyes spot an employee.

"Hey. I came by here last night for a job, and the guy told me to come back today." She says, still inspecting her surroundings.

The person she stopped turns around to face her. He easily towers over her, maybe a few inches taller than Asami. He looks at her with a droopy expression on his face. "Mm. Did he tell you his name?" He says in a slow, lazy drawl.

Korra unconsciously takes a step back. "Um, no. He just told me to come back today and I did."

"Uhhhhhh, well… I just clean up the vomit around here." He shrugs. "You can wait for him or something."

Korra is about to respond, when he just walks off. "What the hell? Now what?" She looks around again, and sees the opening to the section with the go-karts. Maybe she can find some help put there.

Walking toward the sound of revving engines, she's suddenly stopped by a firm hand placed in the middle of her chest. "Did you pay?"

Korra shoves the hand off of her, resisting the urge to laugh at the man's surprise. "I'm not here to ride. I just need help."

"No entry without payment." The man says, crossing his arms over his big chest.

Korra contemplates her choices, and decides that angering him won't be good, since they're in public, and this guy is huge. "How much?"

"Depends on how many rides." He shrugs.

Releasing an exasperated sigh, she rolls her eyes. " _One._ "

"Ten yuans."

She reaches into pocket, freeing her wallet. Pulling out a crisp ten she hands it to him.

He shakes his head, refusing the money. "You gotta pay at the line." He points over her shoulder.

Turning around, she looks at the line and groans. There are at least twenty people in line. " _Come on!_ " She groans out. "Can't you just let me pay here? I'm not even riding those things!"

He glares down at her. "No. If you want to go in, you have to pay like everyone else."

"You know what, screw it. I'm sure there are other employees around here." Just as she's about to walk off, another voice joins the conversation.

"What's going on here?" The random voice asks, a bit irritated.

Turning back to the conversation, she sees the same woman from before standing there, glaring at the giant idiot. What was her name? "Kuvira?"

The girl in question, looks over and her face breaks out into a grin. "It's you again. Korra, right? What's going on?" She motions to the giant behind her.

"I was looking for somebody to help me. This guy wouldn't let me back there without paying, and when I tried to pay him he still wouldn't let me in. So I was about to look somewhere else when you showed up."

He puts a giant finger in her face. "You should follow the rules. Go wait in line lik-"

Kuvira interrupts him, swiping his hand away, much like Korra had earlier. "It's alright. She said she needed help, so I'll help her." She turns her attention back to Korra. "So what's up?"

Just as she's about to answer, she sees the man still glaring at her. She sticks her tongue out at him, satisfied by his obvious anger. "I talked to a guy yesterday about a job. He told me to come back today and here I am."

Kuvira's grin returns. "A job, hmm? When can you start?"

"As soon as possible." Korra shrugs.

"Well then, you're hired. Follow me." She walks back out, toward the track. Korra follows until she's stopped, once again, by a giant hand on her chest.

"You can't let her back there! She still has to meet with the boss and fill out her application."

Korra releases a low growl in her chest. She's had enough of this idiot. Grabbing his hand, she gives it a twist, leaving his wrist at an awkward angle, and forcing him onto his knees. He yelps in pain, struggling to free himself. Korra can feel an enormous amount of strength in his frantic jerking movements. There's no doubt in her mind, that if she didn't have his hand in her grip, she would be in for the fight of her life. Even with his wrist in this dangerous position, his jerks and pulls only get stronger, forcing her to release him, otherwise he'd have broken it himself.

Once his hand is released, Korra backs away and falls into a defensive stance, preparing for the fight she's sure is about to happen. The giant rises to his feet, and flexes his hand a few times before turning to face, Korra.

She braces herself, sure he's about to charge her, when Kuvira bursts out laughing. Korra looks at her with confusion written all over her face.

Bent over, with her hands on her knees, Kuvira struggles to catch her breath. "You idiot. You deserved that." She straightens back to her full height, wiping a tear from her eye. "You and everyone here knows that if the boss isn't here, which he hardly ever is, I'm in charge. And besides, this is more of a test run. But by the way, she just put you on your knees, I'm sure she's more than capable." She walks off, motioning for Korra to follow, still chuckling.

Korra does so, without another word, or look in the guy's direction. They end up in a smaller building outside by the track, where she saw the karts come from the last time she was here.

"Here put this on." Kuvira tosses her a dark gray jumpsuit. "You can change in there."

Turning to where she's pointing, Korra steps into the room. Oddly enough, it's a locker room. She quickly changes clothes, putting the discarded clothes on top of the furthest locker.

"Why does this place have a locker room?"

Kuvira walks toward her. "You won't believe what type of stuff kids want us to hold for them while they race. We figured it'd just be easier to get them lockers." Once she's close enough, she does a once over of Korra's uniform. "Hmm. That looks better than I thought it would." She says, seemingly satisfied.

Korra can't fight the lopsided smirk, forming on her face. "Oh yeah?" She does some poses, flexing her biceps.

Moving even closer, Kuvira leans into Korra, causing her to stiffen. Once there are only a few inches separating them, she reaches behind Korra and grabs a stack of papers from a table, just behind Korra's legs. Having obtained the papers, she backs away, giving Korra her personal space. "I don't need to see your muscles. I saw enough when you kicked Koen's ass." She says, with a small smirk on her lips.

Korra scratches the back of her head. "Sorry about that."

"I don't care. He's an idiot." She shrugs. "Anyway these are the rules, and the stuff you'll be doing around here. Read them. Memorize them. Once you're sure you know what to do, and don't need these papers anymore, come get me." Korra accepts them from Kuvira's outstretched hand, and Kuvira disappears back outside towards the track.

Taking a seat in a dusty old chair in the corner, Korra looks over the papers. The work didn't look too hard. It was mainly a bunch of safety precautions she had to ensure the customers followed. And since she wasn't very good with cars and machines, half of the rules didn't apply to her. The most she'd have to do with the karts is change a tire here and there, or refuel them.

Once she is sure she's memorized all there was to know, she sets the papers back on the table and stands from her seat. Before she can even take her first step, a faint noises catches her attention.

"Psst."

She looks around but sees nothing. Moving closer to where she think she heard the sound, she hears it again but louder this time. Ending up back in the corner with the chair, she looks around again, confused.

"Psst."

She looks at the chair and tilts her head to the side slightly. "What the?"

Looking around once more, she slides the chair over slightly, and to her surprise, there's a hole in the wall. But what's more surprising, is what's inside the hole. Or who.

"It's you!" Korra says, excitedly.

"Yeah it's me. But be quiet. What are you doing here? In a uniform?" The orphan boy asks, suspiciously.

Korra checks their surroundings once again before answering. "I'm investigating. Something isn't right about this place."

"Wow, really? I never noticed." He glares at her. "You can't be here. If you're here I can't work."

Hearing that makes Korra's face drop. That means they'd run out of money. She knew it'd happen eventually, but was hoping he didn't have to come back. At least until she started her investigation. It seems she was too late.

"When did you start robbing again?" She asks

"Almost a week ago."

"Dammit."

She lowers her head, formulating a plan. After a few seconds, her gaze returns to his and she's smiling. "Alright I've got an idea. I'm assuming every time you rob someone, the money goes to The Tripe Threats, right?"

"Yeah, then they gimme a cut."

"Exactly. I'll give you some more money right now, so you can actually have a decent amount, after they tax you. But you should continue doing the robberies, so they don't get suspicious of me. It wouldn't look good if every time I showed up, you disappeared for days on end. I'll pretend to try and catch you, like the rest of the employees do I'm assuming, and we won't ever speak in public."

The little boy thinks over her plan, then finally looks up at her, with a twinkle in his eye. "That might work."

Nodding her head, she reaches into her jumpsuit and pulls out her wallet. She hands the boy a few bills."This is all the cash I have right now. I'll have to go to an ATM to get more. Come back tomorrow and check this hole."

He shoves the money into his pocket. "Thank you."

"No problem. I've gotta go now." She leaves the room and searches for Kuvira, outside by the track. She spots her standing by the railing, watching the race.

Kuvira notices movement out of the corner of her eye, and turns her head in that direction. She spots Korra coming to her, and checks her watch, surprised.

"It's only been seven minutes. You memorized it already?" She asks, skeptically.

Korra shrugs. "Yeah. It wasn't too hard."

The racers zoom by them, and the red light shines, indicating the final lap.

"Well, then now's your time to shine. Get ready to set up the next race."

* * *

 **A/N: Shout out to Ban from seven deadly sins. I had to borrow your name bro. Oh and Rin from Naruto, too. Rip**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Leaving the electronics store, Korra makes her way to her new job. After her first day, she had plenty of time to think over all she had learned. Although she kept a sharp eye out, nothing out of the ordinary caught her attention. That was to be expected though. They wouldn't be very successful if they let all of their secrets slip within her first day there.

Kuvira was also on her mind. She was hard to figure out. She was nothing like the rude woman Korra had met, her first day there with Asami. She actually liked Kuvira a bit, and she knew that her new boss felt the same way about her. She could use that to her advantage and gain some useful information. Maybe.

Entering her new place of work, she walks past her newest enemy, Koen, making her way into the smaller building where the karts are held. Before entering the room, she looks around and makes sure no one is near her. Satisfied that she won't be followed, she fully enters the room. She slides the chair, from yesterday over, and reaches into her pocket, pulling out an envelope and, her newest purchase, a phone. She places the envelope down with the phone on top of it.

Once she's standing up straight again. She can hear Kuvira's voice, coming toward her. Quickly sliding the chair back into place, she hears the door open. She spins around, and tries her best not to look suspicious, hoping she hadn't been caught already.

Kuvira simply stands in the doorway with the door open, looking at Korra with slightly narrowed eyes, as if thinking.

"What are you doing here?" She finally asks.

Korra swallows the lump in her throat before speaking. "I work here, remember."

Kuvira doesn't answer and walks into the room closing the door. She walks further into the room and bypasses Korra, stopping at the chair. Korra watches breathlessly, as her heart pounds so loudly, it's all she can hear.

After what seems like forever, Kuvira turns around with a grin on her face. "I never even gave you a schedule to follow. And here you are. My bad."

Not believing her ears, Korra remains silent, dumbfounded. After she realizes Kuvira is waiting for a response, she releases a sound somewhere between a cough and a chuckle.

"I just thought that was how you guys worked. Your boss never gave me a specific time to return yesterday, either."

Shaking her head, Kuvira sits in the chair. "Sorry about that. You're right, that is how my boss operates, but I'm more professional than that. You're in college right?"

Not seeing what that has to do with anything, Korra gives her a look. "Yea."

"I'm about to go on my break. Come with me, so we can talk about your hours? Or you can send me your class schedule. Whichever works for you. Regardless of what you choose, you'll have the rest of the day off." Kuvira shrugs, sounding hopeful. At least Korra thinks that's how she sounds.

This could be her chance to gather some information. What could go wrong?

"Sure."

Kuvira hops out of the chair, with a wide smile on her face. "Let's go."

She ends up taking them to some restaurant, a few blocks away. Getting closer, Korra can make out the big green words on the front of the building, Green Goblin.

Quickly pulling into a parking spot, Kuvira exits the car. "I hope you like burgers." She says, as Korra follows her into the building.

"I haven't been here in a while. I used to come a lot, when I first moved to Republic City."

Kuvira speaks with the hostess, who quickly seats them. Taking her seat, Korra looks around, equating the lack of customers to the fact that's still kind of early on a Monday morning.

"I figured you weren't from here, but wasn't entirely sure. Let me guess… hmm Watertribe?" Kuvira grips her chin, and looks to the ceiling, as if deep in thought.

"Oh wow, you're amazing." Korra says, teasingly. "I wonder what gave me away."

"I scare myself sometimes." Kuvira nods, solemnly.

The waitress decides to make her appearance, at that moment. "What can I get you two?" She asks, with her pad and pen at the ready.

They place their order, both consisting of some kind of burger and drink.

Korra decides now is as good a time as any, to try and get some information. "What about you? I mean, I can obviously tell you're of Earth Kingdom descent. But were you born in Republic City?" She says, starting her investigation, slowly.

"I was born in the Earth Kingdom. I moved here a few months ago." Kuvira reveals.

"How is it in the Earth Kingdom? I've never been, but always wanted to go."

A wistful grin sweeps over Kuvira's features. "It's a great place. My favorite actually. The people there are unlike any other, so strong and determined. They're what make the Earth Kingdom amazing." Kuvira's entire face, suddenly darkens, and the drastic change shocks Korra. "But recently the Earth Queen, has been making things hard for the citizens."

Korra find herself pulled deeper into the conversation. "What do you mean?"

"She's corrupt. She always has been, but something changed, and now she's exploiting her own citizens. I couldn't stand to watch my proud people suffer anymore, so I left." She says, lowering her head, slightly.

Korra can't believe something like that has been going on, in the Earth Kingdom. "That's horrible. She needs to be stopped."

Kuvira suddenly drops her fist down, onto the table. "I swear I'll find a way to help my people."

The raw emotion behind her words, cause Korra to blush. She jumps slightly when the waitress puts a plate of food down, in front of her. Did she already bring the drinks? Korra hadn't even noticed.

"Thanks…"

"Anyway…" Kuvira releases a deep breath, and a grin slides back onto her face. "About your schedule. When are your classes?"

"I have back to back classes, every week day, from eight in the morning until around three."

Kuvira looks down at her watch. "It's twelve right now."

"I can afford to miss one day. It's just my stupid communication class." She says, dismissively.

Shaking her head, Kuvira calls for the check. "I can work your hours around your classes. You should go. I'll drop you off, if you like."

Korra really doesn't want to see her professor's face, but she supposes she'd never hear the end of it, if she missed one of her great lectures.

Shrugging limply, Korra nods. "Sure I guess. Thanks."

"Stop whining, you only have three hours left." Kuvira laughs.

The waitress from before, comes back with the check and some to-go boxes, before Korra's pout can deepen. She just pulls out her wallet, when Kuvira stops her, with a hand over hers.

"I got it. I invited you here, after all."

"Are you sure? It's no problem-"

"Don't worry about it." Kuvira says, waving her off.

After their meal is paid for, they head off toward RCU. Korra still can't understand one thing. Kuvira doesn't seem like the type of person, capable of causing any harm, let alone working with the triads. Although her investigation is far from over, she gets the feeling that no matter who or what Kuvira is, she won't find out anything valuable from her. So, she'll just ask the question that's been on her mind since she started working at her new job, yesterday.

"Hey, can I ask you something."

Kuvira looks at her briefly, before her attention finds the road again. "Sure." She shrugs.

"Do you and Asami know each other?"

She looks at her suspiciously. "No. Why?"

"You acted kinda harsh towards her, back when we first met. Why is that?" Korra asks, truly curious.

Sighing, Kuvira leans back into her seat. "It's not that I hate her, technically. I just hate it when people with power, don't use it in good ways. I know she's not like her father, but I can't forgive her for sitting by idly either. She's apart of one of the most, influential families in the word, yet she sits by, while others suffer."

Korra nods her understanding. She'd felt the same way about Republic City, and couldn't resist helping. But you can't blame Asami for something, she probably doesn't even know about.

"Maybe she doesn't know about what's happening, in the Earth Kingdom. I didn't find out until earlier, so it's possible."

Kuvira quickly shakes her head. "Some of the rebels had a meeting with her. They'd asked for weapons, to fight back against the Earth Queen and she'd denied them."

"What?" Korra can't believe Asami would deny them help. Maybe Kuvira was confused.

They finally reach RCU and their conversation comes to an end, at Korra's displeasure. She isn't particularly happy, with how their conversation ends.

"Here, gimme you're number, so I can give you your schedule." Kuvira hands Korra her phone.

Korra accepts the phone, and quickly creates a contact, entering her number. Once her number is saved, she sends herself a text, so she'll have Kuvira's number.

Kuvira pockets her phone, with an apologetic smile on her face. "Sorry, today got so… moody. I just had a lot to get off of my chest."

Having exited the car, Korra sticks her head inside of the passenger window, to respond. "It's alright. So, I'll see you, whenever my schedule allows?"

"Whenever your schedule allows." Kuvira repeats, with a nod.

With that taken care of, Korra jogs in the direction of her current class. It's only then, that she realizes she'd brought nothing but her phone, and a burger with her. Thankfully, she probably won't need to take any notes for her next class. Maybe.

She makes a few turns down long, winding hallways, and stops in front of a closed door. She listens closely but can only hear muffled speaking. She opens the door slightly and peaks in. Breathing a sigh, of relief, she's greeted with the sight of some student standing before the class, seemingly trying to piece together a small amount of clues, given to him by the professor, and come to a conclusion on their meaning.

Luckily for her, the door is at the back of the room, while the student, along with her professor, are at the very front, giving the white board all of their attention. She enters, quietly, and quickly finds an empty seat, next to a girl with long, wavy, dark hair.

She leans over in her seat, to get closer to the girl, and whispers. "Hey, sorry to bother you, but can I-"

She's too shocked to continue her question, as Asami turns and looks at her with a curious smile on face.

"Asami?!" She whispers, harshly.

The girl in question, has to cover her mouth otherwise she'd burst out laughing. Once she 's sure she won't disrupt the class, she looks back into Korra's shocked eyes. "Hello to you, too. What do you need?"

Just as Korra is about to respond, the student who was distracting the professor, slams the marker down, causing her to jump slightly.

"Nice job. Well, now that that's finished- Korra?" The professor just so happens to look her way.

Sliding down a few inches in her chair, Korra curses the spirits. "Heh. Hello… Professor Izumi." She smiles nervously.

Izumi only scowls. "Nice of you to join us… at the end of the lesson. Class dismissed."

The entire room floods to the door, and Korra swiftly follows Asami. She grabs onto her shoulders, trying to hide her form behind the slightly taller woman. It seems as though, she will make it out alive, as the door gets closer. Just as Asami exits, Korra moves to follow but, a hand gently clamps her shoulder, preventing her departure.

She slowly turns to face the owner of the offending appendage, not at all surprised, when she's met with scowling amber eyes, looking at her over small frames. "Where do you think you're going?"

Korra looks to Asami, with pleading eyes, who only laughs at her, while she's dragged deeper into the room by her professor.

* * *

Giggling slightly, Asami finishes telling her friends about Korra's grand entrance.

Opal shakes her head, still chuckling. "I sorta feel bad for her. Izumi isn't someone you wanna make mad."

"i wonder what she's making her do. Maybe she's making her write 'I won't be tardy anymore' like a gazillion times!" Bolin says, horrified.

"You should've seen how she was looking at me, when Izumi stopped her from leaving." Asami says, still tickled by the memory.

"Hey Opal! Break's over! I could use a little help here!" Iroh yells over to their table, as he balances three plates and five cups in his hands.

"Sorry Iroh!" Opal says, laughing as she runs into the kitchen.

"I'm surprised she still has a job." Mako shakes his head.

"I'd hire her if she got fired."

"Hire her for what? You don't need employees." Mako looks at Bolin, confusedly.

Bolin shrugs. "For being Opal." He says, with a big grin on his face.

"Aww. Bolin that's so cute!" Asami says.

Asami feels her phone vibrate against her leg, and tunes out the rest of the conversation, reading the message.

 **Korra: Finally free. Thanks for the help Asami**

 **Asami: Don't mention it. It was really no problem at all**

 **Korra: Yeayeayea whatever. What are you doing this weekend? I want to make it up to you for missing lunch yesterday**

 **Asami: I'm free all weekend. What do you have planned?**

 **Korra: Uhh… I didn't make it that far yet. Maybe we can just hang out?**

Asami smirks down at her phone, feeling extra playful today.

 **Asami: … did you just ask me on a date?**

 **Korra: No?**

"Hellooo? Asami?" The sound of Opal's voice, draws her attention away from her phone, just as she is about to type out another reply.

"Huh? What is it?" Asami has no clue what's going on. A second ago, Opal was in the kitchen.

Opal sighs, shaking her head, with a small smile on her lips. "I asked what you were doing this weekend."

"Actually, Korra just asked me the same thing. I'm still not sure what I'm doing yet." She says, motioning to her phone.

Opal's face lights up. "Ooh, ask her if she wants to have a sleepover!"

"Okay."

 **Asami: Wanna have a sleepover?**

 **Korra: And who's asking who on a date again?**

The reply actually makes Asami smile, while rolling her eyes.

 **Asami: A sleepover with me and Opal. Geez**

 **Korra: Sure that sounds great**

 **Asami: See you Friday?**

 **Korra: See you Friday ;)**

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest. I felt this was the only appropriate spot to end it. The next one may be about the same length, but I'm not sure yet.**

 **And 'Green Goblin' is a play on Red Robin, in case you didn't get the reference.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Any particular reason you had me meet you, in the middle of nowhere?" Mako asks, with a curious glint in his eye.

It was Friday, and Korra had him pick her up from her job, and drive them to some run down store, that obviously went out of business years ago.

She puts her hands behind her back, and rocks on the balls of her feet. "Well… I kinda need a favor. Can you teach me how to drive?"

Mako's eyebrows shoot up. "What? Why now? You always turned me down, any other time I offered to teach you." He asks, slightly curious about what brought this on.

Korra simply shrugs. "I'm ready now. Can't hurt to learn, right?"

"Actually it can." Mako grumbles, moving over to the passenger seat, and motioning for her to get behind the wheel.

After several long hours, of endless shouting and bickering, Korra drives them to her house. "Thanks Mako. I really appreciate it." She says, grateful.

"Yeah whatever. I'm just glad you got us here, in one piece." He teases.

"I'm not that bad." She protests, as her cheeks heat up slightly. She had almost wrecked his car more than a few times, while he was teaching her.

"Not anymore." He chuckles.

Korra's phone makes a sound, indicating she'd received a new message.

 **Asami: Opal just got here. You still coming?**

Attached was a picture of Asami and Opal, giving smiles so big, she couldn't see their eyes. She also noticed, they had on pajamas.

 **Korra: Lol I'm on on the way**

She puts her phone away, and returns her attention to Mako. " _Ha ha ha._ Anyway I've gotta go. Thanks for the driving lesson."

"Where you going?" Mako asks, just as surprised as he had been when she asked him to teach her how to drive.

She rolls her eyes, smiling slightly. "I'm having a sleepover with Asami-"

"Wow." He sounds impressed, as he looks at her with a smirk.

"-And Opal! Spirits, Mako." She says, blushing furiously.

She decides it's time to leave, when she looks over and sees him trying to keep from laughing. "Goodbye."

"Wait!" He says, chuckling slightly. "You don't want a ride?"

"Nah, it's just a few blocks down."

He shrugs. "Suit yourself."

She steps inside of the doorway and turns around waving goodbye to Mako. He waves back before driving away. Walking into her room, she ponders if she should bring any extra clothes with her. She looks around at all the clothes, strewn about everywhere and releases a sigh. She'd have to clean this place up. One day.

Figuring it can't hurt to be prepared, she grabs an extra backpack from her closet, and starts stuffing it full of clothes. She quickly changes into her pajamas, a white tank and blue pajama pants. Certain she'd packed enough clothes, she runs into the bathroom, grabbing a few essentials and making room for them in her backpack, before slinging it over her shoulder.

Standing before the front door, she turns back and clicks her tongue, calling for Naga, who comes sliding into the living room, from her bedroom.

Korra has to grab Naga as she comes at her, or else she'd be on the floor with the polar bear-dog, attacking her with a flurry of slobbery kisses.

"Easy girl. I'm leaving for the night. Take care of yourself, until I get back okay?" She asks, and Naga responds by sitting on her hind legs, as her tail wags ferociously. "Good girl."

Korra exits her apartment, and slowly starts her walk toward Asami's house. She still hasn't really thought much over her feelings about Asami. All she really knows, is that she likes Asami more than a friend, but isn't sure how far her feelings run. The last time she had really given it any thought, was sometime around, the accident. Maybe she could gain some insight to her feelings, during this sleepover.

With all that had been happening lately, she hasn't had much time to think about anything, other than helping Republic City. Kuvira somehow invades her thoughts, and she's reminded of their lunch. She'd have to ask Asami about turning away the rebels. Not during the sleepover though. One step at a time.

Lost in her thoughts, her feet carry her to her destination, and she knocks on the door lightly. The door opens, and she's dragged in before she knows what's happening.

"Woah!" She exclaims, as she's dragged further into the house, by who she assumes to be Opal, it's too dark too tell. All she can hear are slight giggles, as she thrown onto a bed, in the middle of the room.

Confused, and a little irritated, she regards Opal with slightly narrowed eyes. "How old are you again?"

Tired of looking at Opal's laughing face, she looks around, and notices she's sprawled out on a futon in the middle of Asami's living room. Searching further, she finds Asami standing in the kitchen, covering her mouth, face beet red. Apparently nobody in this house was responsible.

"You find this funny?" Korra asks, getting up on slightly wobbly legs, and straightening out her rumpled clothes.

Watching Korra struggle to get off of the futon, was too much for Asami to take. She bursts into a fit of bubbly giggles, while tears streak down her face. "I'm- I'm sorry." She says, almost inaudibly, through her laughter.

Korra's entire face heats up from the attention, as Opal laughs inaudibly, while clutching her stomach. Did they invite her here, just to laugh at her? Well she wasn't having it.

Just as Opal gets a hold of herself, a pillow comes out of nowhere, and smacks her in the face. She looks from Korra to Asami with her mouth agape, beyond shocked. Korra is looking through her backpack, not at all seeming suspicious, while Asami laughs even harder.

Since Korra was the only one actually around any pillows, it was too obvious who Opal now had to attack. Bunching up the muscles in her legs, she springs in the bed, directly on top of Korra.

"Hey!" Korra says, wrestling to get the upper hand.

This continues for a few minutes, until Korra tiredly sits, atop Opal's stomach, out of breath.

"No fair, Korra." Opal pouts. "You're supposed to let me win." Her eyes flick behind Korra, and her lip twitches a bit, before they focus on Korra again.

"Maybe you shouldn't attack me?" She says, sarcastically.

"What about me?" Asami says.

Korra only has a split second to look up, as Asami comes flying over the back of the futon, knocking her off of Opal. She feels a weight in her stomach, and when she opens her eyes, there's Asami, smiling brightly.

With Asami sitting on her, in this position, her mind goes somewhere it shouldn't. Her cheeks heat up, and she squirms a bit, releasing a cough.

"Uh, Asami?"

Asami's smile grows. "Yes?" She asks, innocently.

Opal interrupts them. "Hey guys, I'm gonna go grab some food." She says snatching her car keys, off of the coffee table, which was now against the wall.

Asami turns slightly, still sitting on Korra. "You don't have to go. We can order something."

"No, it's okay. It's quicker this way. I'll be right back." Opal waves Asami off.

Asami watches as she leaves. She didn't believe her for some reason. The look on Opal's face made her seem suspicious.

Korra squirms slightly under Asami, regaining her attention. "Oh, sorry." She says, freeing Korra.

As soon as she's freed, Korra shivers a bit, missing Asami's warmth. "Dammit we let her get away. I wasn't done with her."

"She beat you though." Asami says, fighting back her laughter.

"No she didn't. You did. I didn't know you were such a cheater, Asami."

Asami's mouth drops, slightly. "I am not a cheater. There are no rules, in wrestling."

Korra suddenly pins Asami to the bed, much like she had done to her, moments ago.

"Is this… fair?" Korra swallows thickly, as Asami looks up at her with lidded eyes.

Out of nowhere, their positions switch, and the sudden change makes Korra's head spin, forcing her to close her eyes. When they reopen, Asami is smirking down at her.

"I do think it is very fair. But if it makes you feel better, we can attack Opal when she comes back." Asami says as she, climbs off of a very confused Korra.

Korra sits up, and watches Asami put her hair in a ponytail. The look Asami had just given Korra, made her head spin, and her heart beat ten times faster. Did she know what she just did to her? She had to have known, right?

Turning around, Asami notices Korra staring at her, with an intense look in her eye, that makes Asami blush. "What?"

"How did you do that?"

"Do what exactly?"

"You took control of me with just one look." Korra says, referring to a few moments earlier. "How did you do that?"

Asami smiles softly. "It's a secret."

When Korra smiles back, Asami's heart flutters. "What should we do while Opal's gone?" Korra asks, looking around, as if the room would answer her.

"We could play Pai Sho until she comes back." Asami shrugs.

"Alright, but I haven't played in years."

"That's alright. I'll teach you anything you've forgotten."

In the middle of their third game, there's a knock on the door.

Korra leaps up from the futon, beating Asami to the door. "About time."

When she opens the door she readies herself to drag Opal inside of the house, just like she'd done to her. But standing on the other side of the door isn't Opal. It's a delivery guy.

"Are you Asami?"

"No." Korra tilts her head to the side.

"Are you Korra?"

She scratches her head, beyond confused. "Yeah."

"Opal told me to tell you that, you're a loser, but she loves you so enjoy your pizza date." The man hands her three large pizzas, and walks away.

Korra looks at the pizza, then the man and finally closes the door. She returns to Asami, who is siting with her legs folded and her hands in her lap, waiting patiently.

"Opal ordered us some pizza, so I don't think she's coming back." Korra says, sitting the pizza down at the bar.

"What? This sleepover was her idea."

"Oh well. She snoozes she loses." Korra was excited to spend some time alone with Asami. She'd have to thank Opal later.

Asami rises from the futon, and walks over, opening the pizza. "Yeah, you're rig- What the hell?"

Asami's cheeks turn pink when she looks at the pizza. It's cut into the shape of a heart. She opens the other boxes, and discovers that they all have the same shape.

Korra walks over, and chuckles looking at the pizza. "I guess it really is a date now." She says, referring to their messages from a few days ago.

Asami's cheek redden further. "I was just teasing."

"I think you had this all set up. Didn't you Sato?" Korra says, looking at Asami suspiciously.

"No! I had no idea!" Asami sputters, entire face flushed.

Korra laughs, pulling Asami into a hug. "Relax, I'm just kidding. Besides, I wouldn't mind going on a date with you." She says, trying to mimic the look Asami gave her earlier. It was time for payback.

A bit flustered, Asami can't believe how bold, Korra is being. She can't deny that she likes it though, as she returns the hug.

The rest of the night goes on peacefully, with the two eating pizza and watching movers, much like Korra's first few days in Asami's care. As the night rolls to an end, they both lie on the futon, preparing for sleep.

Asami, feeling a bit more courageous, reaches behind her, grabbing Korra's arm, and putting it across her waist. Korra scoots closer, resting her head between Asami's shoulder.

"Goodnight, Asami." She can hear the smile, in Korra's voice.

"Goodnight, Korra." Asami closes her eyes, releasing a content sigh.

Still awake, Korra can tell when Asami dozes. Her breathing evens out, into slow soothing breaths. Just before sleep takes her, Korra formulates a plan for tomorrow. There was no way, she wouldn't spend more time with Asami.

The bright, invasive light shining against her eyelids, and the quiet tweet of birds outside, indicate that is is now morning. Not quite ready to rise, Korra buries her face in whatever part of Asami is closest. The action causes Asami to giggle slightly.

Judging from what she can feel, she believes her face is against Asami's neck. She can't resist planting a small kiss. As soon as she does, Asami's breath catches.

Asami gasps. "Did you just kiss me?"

Korra pretends to be asleep, barely even breathing.

Rolling her eyes, Asami scoffs slightly. "Too bad you're asleep. I was gonna return the favor."

Korra suddenly stretches her entire body out and rolls over, looking at Asami through squinted eyes. "Oh, good morning."

"Would you like your kiss now?"

Korra eagerly nods her head.

"Come here." Asami leans her head down toward Korra's, and just when their lips are about to connect, she slaps Korra with a pillow. "That's for tickling me."

She rises from the bed and walks toward her bathroom. The look on Korra's face is adorable. She really wanted that kiss, but it's okay because Asami did too. "Don't look like that Korra. That pillow couldn't have hurt that bad."

"That's not what hurts." She hears, Korra mumble under her breath, as she enters the bathroom.

She looks at herself in the mirror, and can't stop smiling. Ever since she started hanging out with her friends again, life just seemed so much better. Of course she still had her bad days, like everybody else, but they weren't everyday like they used to be. And Korra… Korra just made her feel so much. She felt lighter around Korra. She was really considering, being with her. The fear of losing her friends, still lingers in her mind. But she isn't going to let it consume her. Not again.

Watching Asami walk into the bathroom, Korra still has a pout on her face. She _really_ wanted that kiss. She quickly gets over it, deciding she still had all day to try again. That is, if Asami accepted her offer. Speaking of which, she reaches for her phone, putting her plan into motion. She shoots Kuvira a quick text, and then dials Opal's number.

"Hello?" Opal drawls. Korra instantly can tell she'd awakened her.

"Hey Opal. I just wanted to say thanks for the pizza, you know."

"No problem Korra. Did Asami like it?" She says, yawning loudly.

"I'm not sure, you'll have to ask her yourself. Anyway that's all I wanted. Go back to sleep."

"Goodbye." Opal hangs up.

"If I didn't know any better," Asami says walking around the corner, already completely dressed. How does she do that? "I'd say you set me up last night. At least that's what it sounds like."

Korra gives her a nervous, lopsided grin. Damn, she heard her thank Opal for leaving. "I swear, I didn't ask her to leave."

Asami walks closer to Korra, standing right in front of her. "Then why are you so nervous?"

"Uh…" Korra can't think clearly, with Asami this close to her. She tries to focus, but instead, keeps staring at her hostess's eyes.

Chuckling, Asami backs away and starts folding the covers on the futon. "I'm just kidding, geez. Can't I have fun too?"

"Heh, whatever. You have anything planned today?"

"Hmm, nothing really. Why? You wanna spend more time with me?" Asami asks.

With a bright grin on her face, Korra points at her using both hands. "Exactly."

Asami laughs. "Okay. Did you have anything planned?"

Pulling her phone from her pocket, Korra checks to see if Kuvira responded to her request. She had. Everything was set. "Actually, I do. But it's a surprise."

"Alright I can respect that. Do I have to dress up?"

"Nah, what you have on now is perfect. And it isn't until a few hours from now, so we have a lot of time to kill."

"Well I have to go see Li. Do you wanna come with me?"

"Of course." Korra says, smiling at Asami.

* * *

 **A/N: I know I know. This chapter isn't as long as it should be. But this was the perfect place to end it, so the next chapter starts perfectly. And besides, I slaved to get this chapter finished in time today, and I did it! I'm proud of myself**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

After enjoying lunch together, the pair head off with Li as their intended target. Throughout the day, Korra kept being reminded of her conversation with Kuvira. It was eating her up inside, to think that Asami would turn away an entire nation, in need. She had decided to keep quiet and wait for an appropriate time to discuss it with Asami. There has to be more to the story. There has to be.

Asami looks at Korra, briefly taking her eyes off of the road. She was getting a little worried. She'd noticed a few times throughout the day, that Korra had this extremely thoughtful look on her face. It bothered her when Korra became too silent. It wasn't like her. Korra was by no means over hyper, but this much silence wasn't normal for her.

Quickly making it to their destination, Asami parks the car and turns in her seat, facing Korra. "Hey." Korra's eyes refocus, on her. "What's wrong?"

She forces a smile onto her face. "What do you mean? I'm fine."

Asami can instantly tell she's lying. If she hadn't have already seen Korra's strange behavior, the fact that the smile that Korra now wore, wasn't crooked like usual, would've given her away. "Don't lie to me. You've been acting strange ever since breakfast. If you don't want to tell me that's fine, but please don't lie about it."

Korra's shoulders droop slightly. She couldn't lie to Asami. "It's just… I'll tell you later. I promise."

Asami shoots Korra a warm smile. "Thank you."

Seeing that smile only makes it harder for Korra to contain her question. She exits the car, silently trailing behind Asami. She desperately tries to occupy her mind, searching for anything to attract her attention. Her eyes land on Asami's back, soon lowering, causing her to be mesmerized by the sway of Asami's hips. Was she doing that on purpose?

Somewhat distracted, Korra enters the elevator with Asami and they ascend to the top floor. The doors open once they reach the top, revealing Li's empty desk.

Korra groans. "Not again!" She says, throwing her hands up, as she exits the elevator.

Asami's head cocks to the side, as she watches Korra in amused confusion. "What's wrong?"

Pointing at Li's desk, Korra whirls back around, gently pushing Asami back into the elevator. "Her desk is empty again. Like the first time that guy came to your job."

Trying to speak, Asami fails miserably at containing her laughter. It was sweet of Korra, looking out for her well-being and all, but she had the wrong idea. Asami continues trying to explain, through her laughter, as Korra forces her into the elevator.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Korra was getting aggravated.

Covering her mouth, Asami's laughs turn into smothered chuckles. "I'm- I'm sorry."

"Asami?"

Korra whips around quickly, having gotten Asami inside of the elevator, and faces a very confused, Li. Waving, Asami still can't control her laughter. Korra's face heats up slightly, realizing why Asami was laughing. She regards Li, with a nervous smile.

"Hey, Li. How ya been?" She says, scratching the back of her neck.

Li still has her eyes on Asami, who had finally managed to stop laughing. "What's her problem?"

"Huh? Oh, I don't know. Could be anything really. Heh."

Eyeing Korra, Li shakes her head. "Did you two come here to be weird, or do you actually have a reason?"

Asami finally steps up. "Yeah. I came to check in and see how everything was going. I brought lunch too." She holds up a box of dumplings.

"Oh thank Spirits. I'm starving." She rushes over to Asami, taking the food and quickly hurrying back into the office.

The two girls follow her, settling into the couch against the wall, while Li seats on the edge of the desk, devouring her food.

"Not to interrupt your meal," Asami says, causing Korra to snort, in laughter. "has anything I should know about come up?"

Holding up one finger, Li swallows her food. "Actually, President Raiko called a few hours ago. He's scheduled you for a meeting, this Thursday. Also the land you requested, in the Fire Nation, is finally ready. The other places you had me look into also look promising, but you should send someone down there to oversee, and amkev sure that the work is done correctly."

Nodding her head, Asami runs her hand through her hair. "I should probably go myself, to make sure everything is taken care of. This is a big merger and I don't want to have any mistakes."

Li's eyebrows rise, slightly. She hadn't been expecting Asami to go, herself. "When do you think it would be a good time to go? Everything is set up. It's all on you now."

"Maybe during the summer. It's a lot of work and it's going to take some time."

Returning to her food, Li nods. "You also got a few letters in the mail." She eyes Asami cautiously, gauging where her head is, after their last talk.

"I figured I would've gotten more by now."

"…Did you think about what we spoke about?"

Asami releases a breath from deep within. "Only a little."

Smiling, Li nods her approval. "That's better than a 'no'. I know it isn't easy, but it's good that you're at least trying."

Asami gives a small smile. "All that I can do right? Anyway… is that all?"

"Yes, I think so. You are coming back to work Monday, right?"

Asami nods.

"Then that should be all. Anything that happens between now and then can be handled once you come back."

"Thank you so much. I'm sorry to leave so abruptly. I just-" Asami is interrupted.

Li has her hand in the air, signaling Asami to stop talking. "You don't need to explain. I understand." She says, while watching Korra, who was at Asami's office window, taking in the view again.

Shaking her head, Asami gives Li a quick hug. Li was always looking out for her.

They pull apart and Asami finds Korra watching them, with a smile plastered on her face. A real smile.

"Come on Korra, let's go."

Korra follows behind Asami, waving at Li as she leaves. "Hi Li. Bye Li."

The woman simply shakes her head, smiling as she watches them leave. Where did Asami find these people? "Goodbye Korra."

Once back inside of Asami's car, the owner faces her passenger. "Where to next?"

"The surprise isn't ready yet. And I wanna take Naga on a walk before we go anyway. Let's go back to your house. I'll walk home from there." Korra shrugs.

Asami wastes no time peeling out of the parking lot, and onto the street. They make it back to her house in record time. Korra starts the trek to her apartment, and hears footsteps behind her. She spins around to see Asami, standing behind her.

"Are you coming with me?" Korra is more than a little surprised.

"Is that a problem?"

"No! Not at all. I just thought you were scared of Naga." Korra continues her walk.

"Well, she is a gigantic polar-bear dog. But, she seems friendly enough." Asami shrugs.

Korra smiles. "I think you'll be great friends."

They continue, walking side by side, in comfortable silence. Korra whips out her phone and sends Bolin a quick message. Hopefully he'd answer before they had to leave Naga alone.

"What's wrong?" Asami asks.

Korra's surprised she even noticed her slight distress. It was such a fleeting moment and she somehow managed to catch it. "I don't want Naga to be alone, for too long. I asked Bolin if he could watch her, while I'm gone."

"How sweet of you."

Chuckling, Korra shrugs. "Can't leave my best friend unattended. I'd never hear the end of it."

"Oh, she talks too, huh?" Asami raises an eyebrow, in amusement.

"No, but we communicate. Telepathically, I'm assuming."

Asami snorts, shaking her head.

Rounding one more corner, they finally make it to Korra's apartment. She opens the door, and as soon as they're inside, they hear something approaching. Korra only has a brief second to prepare herself for the weight about to be thrown at her. Naga comes into view, charging at Korra. She leaps at her owner, knocking her onto the ground, and assaulting her face with her tongue.

"What a greeting. Nice to see you too." Korra laughs.

Asami watches as Korra struggles to free herself, from her best friend's loving embrace. "You've only been gone a day. And not even a full one. Does she always greet you like this?"

Finally up from the ground, Korra straightens her clothes. "Yes. Unless I'm in a bad mood, or hurt."

"She knows when you're in a bad mood?"

Korra taps her head, and then taps Naga's. "I told you. We can communicate."

Staring at the two, dumbfounded, Asami starts to believe her.

"Do you wanna walk her?" Korra asks.

"You put her on a leash?"

"It's more like a harness with a rope attached. And I only do that if we're with other people. It comforts them, since she's so big." Korra explains, as she puts said harness on Naga.

"Uh, sure. I'll walk her. If it's okay with her." Asami says, nervously.

"Of course, it's okay with her. You don't have a problem with that, do you girl?" Korra asks Naga, who replies with a swift swipe of her tongue.

She holds the rope out for Asami, with a grin on her face. Asami accepts it and looks at Naga, who sits, watching Asami patiently, with her tongue hanging from her mouth.

Asami tightens her grip on the rope. "Let's go, Naga."

Naga exits the apartment, Korra and Asami following behind her. The rope was a lot more slack than Asami thought it would be. It was almost like Naga knew she could drag Asami down the street, if she wanted to, but chose not to.

Korra notices, Asami staring at the rope in her hand. "Whenever Naga has her harness on, she lets us set the pace. Although, she doesn't usually walk much faster than this, even without her harness."

"Wow. She's really smart." Asami praises.

"Yeah, sometimes she's smarter than me, if you could believe it."

"I can." Asami laughs.

Korra clutches her chest. "Ouch."

They continue following Naga, falling into comfortable silence. Asami notices Naga heading in the direction of where she knew there was a park. She'd gone there a lot as a kid, with her mother and father. Lately though, she rarely even looked in it's direction.

They make it to the park, and Naga heads for a bench. Once she reaches it, she sits and looks at Asami, expectantly.

Looking at Korra, Asami gestures to Naga. "Does she want something?"

"Oh, I almost forgot."

Korra grabs the rope from Asami's hand and sits down on the bench, in front of Naga. She removes the harness from her chest, sitting on the ground next to them, before pulling a ball out of her pocket. She looks at Naga, whose tail is swaying back and forth in excitement. Cocking her arm back, she throws the ball far into the distance, Naga immediately giving chase.

"Nice throw." Asami says, impressed.

"Thanks."

"I thought you said she wore the harness to make other people feel better. This park is full of people."

Korra pats the space next to her on the bench, inviting Asami to sit next to her, before giving her explanation. "We come to this park often. Most of the people here have seen us before, and know that Naga isn't a threat. And people who are still scared, just steer clear of her. Plus it's hard to play fetch when your owner is slowing you down." She says, as Naga comes running back with the ball in her mouth.

"That makes sense."

Korra pulls her phone from her pocket, nodding. "Bolin said, he's going to meet us here."

"Is your surprise going to be ready, when he gets here?"

Korra smirks. "Nope. But we can go back to your place or something. Or just hang out here. I assume Opal is with him." She says, throwing the ball again.

Asami nods, watching Naga chase the ball again. "So… I know you said, you'd tell me later, but I can't get over it. What had you so worked up earlier today?"

Korra instantly stiffens.

Noticing the change, Asami falters. "But if you don't wanna talk about it-"

"No it's fine. I just don't know how to say this. It's just… I was talking to someone from the Earth Kingdom, and about how the queen has basically turned the entire nation into slaves. She told me a few rebels came to you asking for help, fighting back and that you turned them down."

She finishes and looks to Asami, who has her eyes locked on her feet.

"I didn't believe it at first. I still can't. I guess, I… I don't know. It's hard to believe you'd turn away people, in need. There's gotta be more to the story. Right?"

Korra awaits Asami's reaction, and after what seems like forever, Asami finally looks at her with a blank expression. "No. Your friend was telling the truth. I denied them help. Guess you were wrong about me."

To say Korra is shocked, would be a gross understatement. She has to look away from Asami's emotionless eyes. "Why?" She whispers.

"Because they asked for weapons. I don't make weapons, and never will. If I did what they'd asked, I'd be no better than my father. I'd be worse actually. I'd have the blood of thousands of people, on my hands. I refuse to let that happen."

Korra tries to understand, and she does, but she can't stand the thought of all those people suffering. "But way more innocent people get hurt, if you don't help. At least if you helped, innocent people would have a chance to fight back, and protect themselves."

"Korra you have to understand. I'll help in any other way. Except this one. I just can't do it." Asami shakes her head.

Releasing a sigh, Korra pushes her own feelings down. This isn't about her, and getting Asami worked up wouldn't help anyone. "I understand."

Face lighting up, Asami looks at Korra. "You do?"

"Yeah, I do. It doesn't mean I like it, but I do understand."

Asami pulls Korra into a half hug. "Thanks, Korra. Sorry to disappoint."

Releasing another sigh, Korra returns the hug. "No problem, Asami."

After a few minutes of sitting in each other's embrace, they hear footsteps dangerously close. "Oh my spirits, aren't they cute?!" Bolin exclaims.

He walks around from behind them, and into their field of view, with Opal close behind him.

She waves at the two. "Hey guys."

Raising an eyebrow, Asami eyes Opal. "Hey, 'friend'. Thanks for leaving the sleepover last night."

"I don't see you complaining." Opal laughs, gesturing to the two, still in each others embrace.

They both blush, but don't pull apart.

Bolin looks around them, confused. "Where's Naga?"

"Somewhere around here. She'll turn up sooner or later." Korra waves him off.

No sooner than the words leave her mouth, Naga comes out of nowhere, and leaps at Bolin, ball still in her mouth. She tackles him to the ground and drops the slobbery ball onto his face, replacing it with her tongue.

Bolin groans slightly, while the girls laugh at him.

Wiping a tear from her eye, Korra catches her breath. "Hey, where's Mako?"

"He's out with some Fire Nation girl." Bolin shrugs.

"What?!" Both Asami and Korra yell, simultaneously.

"Yeah, they met after today's game and really seemed to hit it off."

"Wow. Everyone's finding love lately." Opal says.

Bolin finally frees himself from Naga's loving grip, and embraces Opal. "Nobody has a love as strong as ours!"

Opal laughs. "Yeah, your right. Nobody loves me like you do. Korra used to love me, but then she got a new job." She pouts.

"How could you, Korra?" Bolin asks, dramatically.

"Oh come on, Opal. I just needed some extra money. You know I love you."

"And to make it worse, I haven't even seen you since you started at your new job! You've been spending all your time with Asami." She sticks her tongue out at Asami.

Gasping, Korra pretends to be overly shocked. "Don't blame Asami. We all were supposed to have a sleepover last night. But I don't think it was her who left. Who was it again?" She asks, looking at Asami to answer.

Looking between the two, Asami has to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

Opal huffs. "I can't do you guys a simple favor, without you throwing it back in my face can I? Did it ever occur to you that I'm just a selfless person?" She turns away from Korra.

"Selfless people don't remind everyone how selfless they are, every five minutes." Korra mumbles.

Whipping back toward Korra, Opal glares at her playfully. "What was that?"

Not able to take it anymore, Asami bursts out laughing at the two. They were ridiculous, and she loved it.

"You think this is funny?" Korra's glare is betrayed, by her large smile.

"Should we attack her? This is all her fault." Opal suggests.

"What?! How is this my fault?"

Korra ignores her. "Yeah, let's get her."

Bracing for their attack, Asami throws her hands up. "Wait!"

It was useless. Both Korra and Opal rush her. Opal makes it to her first, and Asami bypasses her wide tackle, narrowly spinning out of her reach, causing her to land in the grass. She doesn't have time to recover, as Korra's attack comes right Opal's.

Knocking Asami off of her feet, they both land on the ground next to Opal, with Korra on top of Asami.

She leans down, stopping beside Asami's ear. "Try and pin me now." She whispers, enjoying the chill she feels roll through Asami.

"Ouch." Opal says, sitting up with her legs crossed.

"You guys are crazy." Bolin says, walking off with Naga.

Korra watches him walk away, with her dog, still seated atop Asami. She turns her attention back to the woman underneath her. "Guess I'll free you now. Need a hand?" She extends her hand down to Asami.

"No thanks. I like the view down here." Asami says, staring up at the clouds in the sky.

Craning her neck back, Korra looks up, noticing the amount of clouds in the sky. She decides to lie down in the grass beside Asami, and watch the clouds.

"I used to come here a lot, with my parents. Mom would lay with me and we'd point out shapes in the clouds, while dad worked on his sketches. I haven't been here since." Asami recalls, with a small smile on her face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't mean to bring up any old memories." Korra grabs her hand.

Asami closes her eyes, giving Korra's hand a light squeeze. "No, it's okay. I'm glad you brought me here. I had fun. Thank you."

Bolin comes back, with takeout and a blanket. "Surprise! When you told me you were at the park, I was like 'Oh my spirits, we've gotta have a picnic'."

"Sorry Bolin, but we already had lunch. Maybe you and Opal can eat the food, and watch the clouds with us." Korra suggests.

Crawling closer to the two, Opal settles on the blanket, as Bolin plops down beside Naga, digging into his noodles. "I don't know about you guys, but this is the most soothing date I've ever been on." Opal sighs, leaning her head on Bolin's shoulder.

Opening her eyes, Asami finds Korra watching her with a grin on her face. "What?"

"We finally got to go on that double date, huh?"

The smile that takes over Asami's face is so wide, her cheeks hurt. "Looks like we did."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Long after Opal and Bolin had left with Naga, the moon peeking over the horizon, Korra and Asami finally leave the park, walking back to Asami's house.

Trailing behind Korra, Asami watches as she leads her back home. They hadn't meant to stay at the park for so long. But time just slipped away from them. She can't even remember when Opal and Bolin left with Naga. One minute and she's watching the clouds move across a blue sky with Korra, then the next that blue sky happens to be black.

Truthfully, she hadn't had that much fun, in a while. And apparently, that wasn't even a part Korra's plan. Her feelings for Korra were getting stronger, and she was genuinely excited to spend more time with the blue eyed beauty, exploring her feelings. If she were being truthful with herself, she was also terrified. But she wasn't going to let it consume her. She owed it to herself, to a least try.

Korra can't seem to shake the slight grin from her face. Today had went better than she thought it would, and her plan hasn't even been set into motion yet. If things kept going this well, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. Hopefully when they get to the part of her plan that Kuvira had taken care of, there won't be any trouble.

Reaching Asami's house, Korra stops in the driveway, turning to face the owner. "Now before we continue, I need to know how much you trust me."

Skeptically, Asami shrugs. "A lot?"

"Enough to let me drive?"

Asami's eyes widen comically, and Korra is proud of herself for not losing her composure at the hilarious sight. "Wha- You can drive?"

Smiling slightly, Korra shrugs. "Yeah."

"Do you have a license?"

"Heh. Not exactly. That's why I need you to trust me." Korra rubs the back of her neck.

Asami weighs the options in her mind. She did trust Korra but, if something happened… Well who was she to talk? _She_ was the one who had ran Korra over. Oh, what the heck. "Sure. Just… don't run anyone over. It's a terrible feeling. And you'd probably go to jail since you shouldn't be driving anyway."

Swallowing harshly, Korra nods. "Duly noted."

Entering her car, on the passenger side, Asami carefully watches Korra, as she slides behind the wheel.

"Ah ah ah. Put the blindfold on." Korra smirks.

Asami huffs. "Do I have to?"

"Yes! Not only is it payback for making me wear it, but I actually want to surprise you. You know this city like the back of your hand." Korra says.

Asami can tell this is important to her, so she puts the blindfold on without any further complaints, sending a faint smile in Korra's general direction.

Starting the car, Korra pulls out onto the street. "Thanks. Now let's make sure I don't confuse the brakes with the gas, like last time." She mutters.

Asami's pale skin, pales further at Korra's statement. "What?" She breaths out.

"I'm just kidding!" Korra roars with laughter.

Clutching her chest, Asami releases a breath of relief. "Oh spirits. Please, don't joke like that."

"I couldn't resist. I'm sorry."

"Try that again, and the blindfold's coming off." Asami warns.

Korra smirks. "Yes Ms. Sato."

"Please don't call me that, you sound like Li." Asami groans

Korra chuckles. "Is there something wrong with, that?"

"No, it's just too formal. You and I are… friends. Close friends? Just call me Asami."

Even with the blindfold over her face, Korra can see the confusion on Asami's face, as she tries to work out what they are to each other. It was quite cute.

"Well, of course, Ms. Sato. Whatever so pleases you."

"Jackass." Asami mumbles, trying to hide her grin.

"Wow. And to think, I would have used some very flattering words to describe you." Korra shakes her head, regardless of the blindfold over Asami's eyes.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Asami was intrigued.

Korra puts the car in park. "Doesn't matter. We're here now."

Removing the blindfold from her face, Asami instantly recognizes where Korra had brought her. It was Kwong's. She goes to open her car door, but Korra beats her to it, and has a hand extended, offering Asami help.

Allowing Korra to help her out of the car, Asami smooths out her clothes. "Gosh I wish you would've told me where we were going, so I could change. Do I have grass stains on my back?" Asami spins around.

Stepping closer to her, Korra sweeps Asami's hair over her shoulder, and leans close to her ear. "You look amazing." She whispers.

And truthfully, she did. She has on a casual red button up shirt with white accents, a black skirt, and some black heels that added just a bit more height to her. Her hair falls past her shoulders, in loose bouncy curls.

Korra's determined to make sure this date doesn't end like it did the last time they went to Kwong's. She's going to make sure it's memorable.

Suppressing a shiver, Asami turns back around, with Korra much closer than she had thought. She looks at Korra with lidded eyes, before taking a few steps back and clearing her throat. Now wasn't the time.

She decides to indulge in another thought that has her fairly curious. "You need reservations to eat here, and it's nearly impossible to get next day reservations. You must have been planning this for a while."

Korra's cheeks heat up. "Actually, yeah. I made the reservation that same Monday, you asked me to sleepover."

Asami is flattered that Korra did all of that for her. It wasn't easy getting reservations at Kwong's if they didn't know you, or you if didn't have never ending pockets. "Korra, that's so sweet."

Face reddening even more, Korra changes the subject. "How do I look? I didn't want to dress too fancy, because well, that's not how I dress and you would've caught on to the surprise. But I didn't want to be too _not fancy_ because this is Kwong's, you know?" Korra says in one breath.

Examining Korra's outfit, Asami is pleased. Korra is wearing a dark blue flowy shirt/dress without sleeves, with black leggings and some boots that end just above her ankles. Her shoulder length hair is in it's usual style, and she has on some earrings that dangle a bit. All in all, Asami just finds Korra overly attractive.

The sudden sound of fingers snapping, directly in front of her face, causes her to focus her attention on the owner of the hand. "Can't keep your eyes off me? I guess that means I look good." Korra teases.

Blushing furiously, Asami grabs Korra's arm, and pushes her in the direction of the restaurant's opening, following closely behind her.

Korra walks into the restaurant, stopping to speak with the host. He looks up at Korra as she speaks, noticing Asami on her arm, surprise clear on his face. From his perspective, it looks as though they're on a date. _Technically_ , they are. Korra likes the way it feels, walking into a room with Asami on her arm. She gently pulls Asami, from behind her and to her side, interlocking their arms, following the host to their table.

Smirking, Asami looks at Korra with a raised eyebrow. "Are you trying to claim me?"

Matching Asami's smirk, Korra shrugs. "Maybe. How does that make you feel."

"Ask me again, when you don't look so good."

Korra laughs. "When have you ever seen me not look good?'

Feigning a thoughtful expression, Asami smiles at Korra. "Good point."

Coming to a stop at a table, the host smiles at them politely, and they take their seats.

Looking around, Korra notices no shortage of eyes on them. "Everyone's staring at us." She doesn't back down from the gazes, turned her way.

Not understanding where this confidence was coming from, she's grateful that she isn't as nervous as she was the first time she ate at the restaurant. In fact, she can't care less what these people think.

Asami quickly sweeps her eyes around the room, confirming Korra's statement. There indeed were many pairs of eyes on them. "Maybe it's because the only other person I've ever brought here, is Mako."

Korra frowns. "Are you trying to tell me, that these people watch you that closely? And you brought me here a few weeks ago."

"Word travels fast between people with power in this city. Mainly because they're petty." She shrugs. "And the way we entered today might make some people think we're together." She blushes, realizing just how close they walked next to each other, upon entering.

"Really? They think you're _my_ girlfriend?" Korra is beyond shocked.

"What, is that bad or something?'

"No, it's actually amazing. Let them think what they wanna think." Korra waves her hand.

Asami raises an eyebrow at her. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you want them to think I'm your girlfriend."

Smiling at Asami, Korra blushes slightly. "It isn't the worst idea in the world." Her cheeks brighten further.

Matching Korra's grin, Asami reaches across the table, grabbing her dates hand. "Korra…"

The waitress interrupts Asami, with her pad and pencil in her hands. "Good evening. May I take your order?"

They place their orders and the waitress disappears. Their gazes meet and they blush. Korra circles the back of Asami's hand, with her thumb.

"Thanks for this Korra. The surprise I mean. This is the perfect way to top off a much needed vacation."

Korra chuckles a bit. "This isn't all there is to my plan."

"What?" Asami has a shocked smile on her face.

"Besides, you deserve it. You work too much. And you took care of me for those couple of days."

"Yeah, but I was the reason you needed to be taken care of, in first place." Asami frowns.

Korra waves her off. "Or maybe I should look both ways before crossing the street."

Asami laughs. "Spirits, I'm excited about what you have planned. I haven't been this excited since I was a kid."

"Well, I hope I don't disappoint."

Still smiling, Asami shakes her head. "We could have _another_ picnic in the park for all I care. As long as you put thought into it, I don't care what it is."

"Geez Asami, you're gonna make me think you like me." Korra says, hiding behind her hand.

Soon their food comes, and they eat. The waitress comes back with the check and Korra grabs it.

"Korra-" Asami starts.

"Nope. I got it." Korra says, referring to the check. She looks at the price and her eyes bulge. "Sheesh, I don't think I've even spent this much money, on the food I've eaten in my entire life, collectively."

"If you want, I could handle the check. I know Kwong's is ridiculously expensive."

"Nah, I got it." Korra hands the waitress her card. Once she comes back, Korra accepts her card back, signing the receipt.

They walk out of the restaurant together. "You didn't have to do that." Asami frowns.

"Asami, I wanted to. I wouldn't have if I couldn't afford it. Cheer up!" She says, lightly pinching Asami's cheeks.

Despite the small smile on her face, Asami's features are still contorted into a frown. "But didn't you say you left Narook's, so you could make more money?"

Korra almost cringes, at her lie being thrown in her face. They need to drop this conversation. "And I did. Now let's get out of here, we've got somewhere to be!"

They both enter the car, and Asami is no longer frowning. Korra assumes she had believed her. Truthfully, her first check hadn't even come from her new job yet. But she had enough money saved, that she could afford a few trips to Kwong's.

"Where are we going?" Asami asks.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you." Korra says, in a singsong voice.

Shrugging, Asami laughs. "Can't blame me for trying."

"Hehehe. Put your blindfold back on." Korra orders.

Groaning, Asami pouts. "Oh come on, Korra. We're already even. Do I have to put it on again?"

"Yes! I thought I explained this already? Plus, I like to win. Getting even isn't good enough for me." She smirks.

"Ugh. Fine."

Once she's sure Asami can't see a thing, Korra takes out her phone and sends Kuvira a text, letting her know she was on the way. Hopefully everything went okay. Pulling out onto the street, she starts thinking of possible ways this could play out.

Going over different scenarios, she decides it'd be better to keep Asami and Kuvira away from each other.

"Are we there yet?" Asami huffs.

"Don't rush me. Aren't you an engineer? And a business woman? I thought you were supposed to have unlimited amounts of patience, doing work like that." Korra stops at a red light, and can see her destination in the distance. Quickly checking her phone, she sees that Kuvira had done what she'd asked.

"Just because I have patience, doesn't mean I like waiting. Besides, I haven't even seen your driving skills yet. Since we haven't crashed so far, I'll assume you know what you're doing."

Grinning, regardless of the fact that Asami can't see her, Korra's chest swells. "Don't worry. You'll have plenty of time time to see my skills. Just relaaax."

Making it to the their destination, she parks behind the building, where other employees usually left and entered, to take out the trash and run other errands. She looks over at Asami, before exiting and going over to the passenger window. Sticking her head inside the window, she gently taps Asami's shoulder. "You can take your blindfold off. But stay in the car." She orders. Not waiting for Asami to reply, Korra walks to the side of the building.

Once Asami can see again, she examines her surroundings, and can't make out anything distinguishable. She seems to be in some sort of alley. She can see Korra talking to someone, but can't tell who it is. She watches as Korra rubs her neck and shrugs, something she learned Korra does when she's nervous. The figure seems to laugh and then walk away, and she can see Korra, jogging back to the car.

"Alright, are you ready?" She asks Asami, excitedly.

"Should I be scared?" Asami says, choosing to ignore Korra's conversation with the stranger.

Grinning like a little kid, Korra stands waiting for Asami to exit the car. "Alright, now that we're here, I need to cover your eyes until we get inside."

"Are you serious?" Asami deadpans.

"Of course not. We're standing in an alley way. There's no need to hide that from you. Just follow me."

Leading Asami inside of the building, they wind through a room in the dark, and Asami has to grab Korra's hand to keep from getting lost, or bumping into anything. Once they make it out of there, they enter a new room that's dimly lit, from light shining outside. Asami can vaguely recognize the room they're in now. It was the lobby of that go kart and laser tag place. That must have been the laser tag room they just left out of.

"How come you know this building so well? And what are we doing here? Isn't it closed?" Asami was beyond confused, and it showed on her face.

"Shh. Save your questions for later."

They continue walking, exiting outside to where Asami knew the track was. When they get out there, she gasps, releasing Korra's hand. She spins around taking in the sight around her.

Lights had been hung up above the track, resembling thousands of stars in the sky. In the middle of where the track looped, a pond reflected the light so beautifully, that Asami couldn't take her eyes away.

"When did you do all of this?" She finally rips her gaze away, from the pond, and looks at Korra.

Blushing once again, Korra rubs the back of her neck. "Well, I work here now, so I had one of my co-workers do it for me. It only cost me a few yuans." She chuckles.

Asami moves closer to Korra. "Is that why you, so suddenly, decided to learn how to drive." She smirks.

"… Maybe. Maybe not." Korra shrugs. "Anyway, I brought you here so I could kick your ass."

"Oh really? You think you can beat me?" Asami's smirk grows, wider.

"Actually, I know I can."

"I highly doubt it." Asami laughs.

"Let's have a wager then, Sato." Korra was smirking now, too.

"Alright, you're on. If I win, I get to pay you back for dinner."

Korra crosses her arms. "Fine. But if I win… you have to give me a kiss." She says, her entire face heating up.

A blush creeps up Asami's neck, as she smiles at Korra. "Alright. You've got a deal."

Once she's sure Asami is secure in her kart, she hops in her own, strapping in. She gives Asami a thumbs up, indicating everything was ready to go.

"Um. How are we supposed to start? Isn't the button for the lights up there?" She motions to the railing, on the side of the track.

Korra waves her off. "Psh, we don't need a crappy light to tell us when to start. We'll do three laps around the track and first one back is the winner. On my mark. Since I'm a trained professional and all."

Shaking her head, Asami laughs. "Start the count down, _professional_."

"Ten, nine, eight, GO!" Korra zooms down the track, with Asami following a second after.

"Hey, no fair! That's not how you count, Korra!" Asami yells, over the roar of their engines.

Korra only laughs, trying to put distance between herself and Asami. She knew that if she let Asami catch up, it was game over. There was no way she'd be able to bring it back, if Asami took the lead. So with that thought in mind, she recklessly makes a hard turn, foot never leaving the gas.

Watching the kart in front of her, turn wildly, Asami shakes her head again. Korra was going to get herself killed! She narrowly made that turn and it was a pretty wide opening. She wouldn't be able to do that on the more narrow turns, up the track. Once they get on a relatively straight shot, Asami puts the pedal to the floor, gaining on Korra the slightest bit.

Korra can see the front of Asami's kart out of the corner of her eye. She pushes her pedal the rest of the way down, which isn't far, effectively halting Asami's attempt at passing her. But that wasn't enough. Asami was too close. If she didn't get Asami to back off somehow, she'd surely end up passing Korra.

Turning her head, she smiles at Asami. Once she's sure Asami saw her smile, she uses the back end of her kart to push Asami away, causing her to swerve slightly, just enough for Korra to get some breathing room.

Asami narrows her eyes, as she stops her kart from spinning out. It seems as though Korra is going to put up a fight. Well if that's how she wants to play it…

Coming up on another turn, Korra is forced to slow down, as she harshly yanks her steering wheel to the side. Just as she's about to straighten her wheels, Asami drifts passed her, at an unbelievable speed. Korra grips her steering wheel, and mashes the gas, desperately trying to regain lost ground. Coming out of her turn, rather harshly, she has to straighten her kart, before she loses control. It was worth it because she and Asami are now neck and neck. Most of the race continued this way, the two battling for dominance, one overtaking the other, up until the last lap.

Asami was tired of the back and forth, and so was Korra. Looking to her side, she sees Korra creeping up. She taps her brakes, falling just behind Korra, and causing Korra to swerve into nothing, when she tries to nudge Asami's kart with her own.

As her kart literally hits nothing and spins out in a complete circle, Korra slams her hands against the steering wheel, watching as Asami crosses the finish line. She slowly turns her kart back to it's correct position and crosses the line.

"Looks like you got me. Nice moves." She pouts, walking up to Asami.

"You almost gave me a run for my money. I wasn't sure I would win." She smiles. "That was amazing considering you just learned how to drive. I think if you would've hit your turns better, you could've had me."

"Thanks." Korra kicks at the ground.

"Don't look so sad. You might've lost, but you're getting money back." Asami steps closer to Korra, without her noticing.

"I don't-" Korra's sentence is cut short, as Asami's lips brush over hers. Wrapping her arms around Asami's waist, Korra leans into her lips. Asami pulls away and the kiss is over, just as soon as it happened.

Korra looks at her with a bright blush on her cheeks. "But I lost?"

Asami shrugs, laughing. "You looked so sad. I couldn't stand it. And well… maybe I just wanted to kiss you." She shrugs again, her entire face feeling hot.

Looking at Asami with bright eyes, practically beaming, Korra leans closer to her. Asami meets her halfway and their lips connect. Asami wraps her arms around Korra's neck, pulling her flush against Asami's body. When they pull away, Korra still has her eyes closed. Asami is about to speak, when a flashlight beam hits them, out of nowhere.

"Hey! What are you two doing here?!" An unknown voice asks.

"I work here." Korra growls, not appreciating the interruption.

"Show me your employee Id, or I'm gonna have to take you both in."

"Alright." Still holding onto Asami, she leans down, resting her lips by Asami's ear. "When I let you go, I'm gonna need you to bolt for the car. I left my badge, and I still need to lock this place up." Korra whispers. Asami lightly taps her neck, indicating she had heard her and understood.

Korra releases Asami and stands between her and the guy, she assumed to be an officer. "Hey!" He tries to reach for Asami as she bolts down the hall, but Korra stops him, grabbing his arm.

"Hey, I thought you wanted to see my Id?" Korra smiles.

"Let me go!" He rips his arm from her grip and sprints in the direction he had last seen Asami. Korra lets him go, sure Asami had made it to the car by then. There was no way he'd find his way into the alley, they left the car in.

After getting rid of all the lights and putting the karts back in place, Korra walks towards the back door, gaining the officers attention in the process. "Hey you! Come here!"

Korra bolts down the hall and right out the doors. Making it out into the alley, she spots Asami in the passenger seat of her own car, and realizes she still has the keys. Quickly jumping behind the wheel, she turns to Asami, slightly out of breath. "Where to next?" She grins.

* * *

 **A/n: They're getting kinda close, huh?! When I write these chapters, I have a genuine idea of what I want to happen, but most of the time a lot of this comes to me as I write it, so I'm just as surprised as you.**

 **Now i know it's been a while since I've updated this story. I guarantee you I am still writing, just very slowly. I had something very exciting happen with my music, so I've been very busy.**

 **I see a few guests have reviewed my story, and I encourage you to continue. Tell me how you feel, what you think! I usually reply to any reviews I do get, as long as they're actually logged in.**

 **Hopefully I can get a new chapter up next Friday. But if not, please bear with me. I'd get them up quicker if I had the time, I swear.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Back at Asami's house, the owner sits on her bar stool, watching Korra, who's seated on her counter eating a bowl of cereal. "Is it good?" Asami chuckles.

Korra looks up at her with a smile on her face, milk dripping from her chin. "Want some?" She says with her head tilted back, so she doesn't drop cereal.

"We just had dinner. I don't understand how you can still eat."

Washing her bowl, Korra shrugs. "That was like, three maybe four hours ago."

Slipping off of the bar stool, Asami rolls her eyes, smiling. "I'm gonna go change. Are you staying the night again, or…?"

"It would be rude of me to eat your cereal, and then leave, Asami. I have no choice, but to stay."

"Of course, of course. Let out the futon." Asami walks into her room, laughing.

Korra does as she is asked, and sits on the edge of the futon, thinking over the day she had just had, smiling wistfully. But then, she is reminded that she left the back door unlocked, and her expression changes. Unlocking her phone, she goes to her messages, and taps Kuvira's name and telling her about her slip up, with vague details. Kuvira doesn't need to know everything.

"Are you okay?" Asami comes back into the living room, looking at Korra and trying not to laugh at her expression.

"Heh. Yeah, I just left the doors at the place unlocked, so I had to text my coworker. If that guy wouldn't have showed up." She shakes her head, frowning slightly.

"You can't blame him. It was pretty late, and we were making a _lot_ of noise." Asami plops down next to Korra. "If it makes you feel any better, I had an amazing time. Thank you." Leaning over, she plants a kiss to Korra's cheek.

Before Asami can back away, Korra holds her face in place, with a hand on either cheek, and gives her a quick kiss. "No problem. I had fun too. Even though you cheated during our race, it's okay."

Asami looks absolutely appalled. "I cheated? Didn't you start before the countdown was finished? And weren't _you_ the one trying to make me spin out?"

Korra blushes. "Well… You still won somehow. So, you cheated."

"Maybe if you utilized your brakes, this would be a different conversation." Asami shrugs.

Folding her arms, Korra pouts. "That was a dirty move, Asami. What if I would've crashed?"

"You should've kept your kart to yourself. You didn't care about me crashing, when you kept nudging me. I think you were trying to make me crash. Do you not care about my well-being?"

"Bu- wha- huh?!" Korra sputters. "That's not- oh hush. You still won. And without a scratch."

She pushes Asami back, knocking her onto the middle of the futon.

"And what was that for?" She smacks Korra's arm.

Shrugging, Korra rubs her arm. "Trying to make me feel bad."

"Did it work?"

"… Yes."

Asami laughs. "Good. I can't have somebody else trying to kill me."

"Viper won't lay a hand on you." Korra says, strongly.

Asami grabs her hand, calming her down. "That's good to know, but I wasn't talking about Viper."

Tensing slightly, Korra looks at Asami with saucer sized eyes. "Someone else is trying to kill you?!"

Laughing, Asami shakes her head, "No." Her eyes drop to her and Korra's clasped hands, and she tightens her grip before continuing, with a blank expression. "My dad tried to… tried to kill me." She falters.

Korra is shocked beyond belief, but shows no indication of having heard Asami. She had many questions, but kept silent, certain that Asami wasn't done speaking.

"When I refused to help him arm the triads, and threatened to turn him in. He said I was _ungrateful_ and that he no longer considered me his daughter."

Korra is frightened by Asami's tone. She could understand if Asami were sad, confused, and even angry, but no. Asami seemed calm. Way too calm. She sounded as though she were reading, from the pages of a book. No one should be able to talk about their only parent turning on them like that.

Once she's sure Asami isn't going to speak anymore, Korra releases a sigh. "I know that can't be easy to deal with. I'm sorry you have to." She truly was.

Asami shrugs. "It's alright. It doesn't bother me much."

"Bullshit." Korra exclaims.

"Excuse me?" Asami says, not sure she understood why Korra was so worked up, all of a sudden.

"I'm sorry, but there's no way it doesn't bother you. You have to feel something."

"I don't know what I feel." Asami says truthfully.

Korra grabs Asami's chin, and forces her to look her in the eye. "You can't keep this bottled up, Asami. It's not healthy."

"You sound like Li." Asami smiles slightly.

"Well it's true. Something like that, shouldn't be kept inside. You'll just explode one day, and it won't be pretty. You've got to work through your feelings, before they ruin you."

Asami sighs, knowing Korra is right. That's exactly what happened to her father. "But how?"

Shrugging, Korra thinks for a bit. "Just start small. Pretend he's here right now, right in front of you. What would you say? What would you ask him?"

"I'd ask him why."

"Why what?" Korra pries.

"Why, after everything we've been through, would he throw it all away? Why after all the years that it's been just us, did he seek revenge? Why wait so long? What changed? Why wasn't I enough? What did I do wrong? Why… why doesn't he love me?" Asami breaks down into heart wrenching sobs.

Korra quickly pulls her into a loving embrace, tears of her own sliding down her cheeks. Just watching Asami go through so much pain, hurt her. The noises coming from Asami sounded like pure agony, and Korra hated every second of it. She wished she could take away all of her pain.

Smoothing her hair down, Korra rocks back and forth trying to sooth Asami. "Just let it out." She whispers as soothingly as she can manage.

Nearly five minutes later, Asami pulls away, sniffling and chuckling. "Sorry about your shirt."

Looking down, Korra notices a giant wet spot on her shoulder, from where Asami had clung to her. "It's alright. I'm here to help. Even though there's not much I can do." She frowns.

"You've done more than enough. Thank you."

Korra blushes. "How are you feeling?"

Frowning, Asami wipes her face. "A bit better, actually. But I still feel… I don't know." She sighs.

"Maybe you should see your dad." Korra suggests, carefully.

Releasing another sigh, Asami smiles slightly at Korra. "Li told me that too. I was thinking about it. I haven't made up my mind yet."

"What's the worst that can happen? He can't do much in his position. If you want… I'll go with you. If you want me to of course." She quickly adds.

Asami gives Korra a quick peck. "I'll let you know, when I decide. Now, can we go to sleep? I'm exhausted."

"Sure." Korra says, allowing Asami to lay her head on her shoulder.

"Korra?" Asami asks, once she's comfortable.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for giving me a shoulder to cry on. Literally."

"It's no problem at all, Asami." She yawns. "I hate seeing you cry."

"I don't cry often." She laughs. "I haven't cried like that in a while."

Asami notices that Korra had dozed, and probably hadn't heard her reply. Soon she is lulled to sleep, by the sound of soft snores.

* * *

About a month has passed by, and things are looking up. Asami hasn't heard from Viper, since their initial meeting. She doesn't let his absence trick her, into thinking that the Triple Threats had forgotten about her. She knew they'd try something soon, and she was ready.

Her meeting with President Raiko, went perfectly too. She was to redesign the roadways of Republic City and make them more efficient. She also was invited to his wife's birthday party. She truthfully didn't want to go, but it would be rude of her not to at least show up.

As for Korra, she had gotten her license, but decided to continue walking everywhere. It wasn't like she had the money to buy a car anyway. On the weekends, she would sleep over at Asami's, or Asami would stay at her place. She hadn't seen Mako nor Bolin in a while, since they were preparing for the championship. She'd seen Opal a few times, but Opal was spending most of her free time with Bolin, when he wasn't practicing.

The relationship between Asami and Korra was developing and fast. They haven't had a proper talk about this thing they had going on. For the most part, they acted like friends, aside from the stolen glances, kisses, and cuddles. Okay so, they obviously were a lot more than friends. But they haven't decided exactly, what that was yet.

The sound of her office phone ringing, snaps her out of her thoughts. "Hello?" She answers.

"Korra is downstairs." Li says, into her ear.

Checking her watch Asami smiles. 12Pm on the dot. It was the only free hour on her schedule, and she decided she was going to utilize it, and visit her father. She didn't expect Korra to show up, after telling her about her plans. But Korra was very supportive, so she wasn't surprised.

"Thank you, Li. I'll be back soon."

"Good luck, Asami." Li says.

She exits her office, and quickly jogs into the elevator, riding it down to the garage. Once the doors open she immediately spots Korra, leaning against her car, tapping her phone screen harshly with her thumbs.

"Hey." Asami says, jogging up to Korra's side.

"Hey." Korra says, eyes never leaving her phone screen. She has her face scrunched up in concentration.

Asami watches, amused. "What are you doing?"

"Playing a game. Stick figures. Fighting. Very serious stuff." Korra grunts.

Chuckling, Asami shakes her head. "Mhmm. Maybe you should continue your game in the car. I've got somewhere to be, you know."

Korra shuffles to the passenger side door, eyes still glued to her phone. She quickly opens the door, dropping her phone in the process. "Oh, fuck!"

Dropping to the ground, she scoops up her phone. "Dammit! That level is impossible to beat." She says, slumping into the seat. "Anyway… how was your day?"

"it was alright. I just went over some new plans with the guys in the factory, and a few meetings. What about you?"

Korra grunts, harshly jerking her phone to the side, having restarted her game. "I slept in, until about four hours ago, since I requested the day off. I studied for a while, until the words stopped making sense. After that I went to Mako and Bolin's, and helped them practice with the rest of the team. I stayed there until they dropped me off, at Future Industries."

They stop at a red light, and Asami looks over at Korra. She rubs a big purple spot on her arm, with a frown on her face. "I guess this bruise came from practice."

"I had to show the guys how to stand their ground. Even when a three hundred pound linebacker is locked onto you." She shrugs.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Asami looks at her like she's crazy.

"It's nothing compared to the one on my ribs. He really got me." She laughs.

Asami looks concerned. "Don't you think you should get it checked out?"

"Please, I've been hit by a car before, you know. I'm basically indestructible. But enough about me, how are you feeling?"

Blushing, Asami turns at an intersection. "I'm a little nervous. I don't think the full weight of what I'm doing, is going to hit me until I actually see him."

"I know I've already said this, but if you want I'll go with you." Korra says, with her eyes still on her phone. Regardless of the fact, that she was intensely focused on her phone, Asami could feel the care coming from Korra.

Smiling, Asami shakes her head. "No, this is something I need to do alone. You know you didn't have to come. Not that I don't think it's sweet, I just don't want you to think, that you had to come."

"Nonsense. I'll always be there, even when you don't need me." She grunts, still wrestling her phone.

Asami smiles like an idiot. Korra hadn't said many words at all, but she had said enough. They fall into a comfortable silence, aside from Korra's slight murmurs, and tapping.

"Fuck!" Korra exclaims, shoving her phone into her pocket.

"I take it, you lost?" Asami raises an eyebrow.

Folding her arms, Korra huffs. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Asami laughs. "That's okay, because we're almost there."

Pulling into a wide parking lot, they stop, and Asami hands Korra her phone.

Looking at her confused, Korra tilts her head. "What's this for?"

"I can't take it with me."

"Oh. That makes sense."

Taking a deep breath, Asami closes her eyes. They reopen when she feels fingers on her shoulders. She comes face to face with Korra, whose smiling brightly. That smile energizes her the second she sees it. And then those smiling lips come into contact with hers, and she's completely ecstatic.

Korra feels Asami smile against her lips, and pulls away, satisfied that she had lifted her spirits. "You got this 'Sami."

One of Asami's eyebrows instantly shoots up, at the shortened version of her name. "'Sami?"

Shrugging, Korra blushes. "I was too excited, to pronounce both syllables."

"Alright, _Kor_. I've got to go before I die from cuteness. This shouldn't take long, so I'll be back soon." She says, exiting the car.

"I'll be here." Korra pulls her phone from her pocket, deciding to give her game another try.

She watches Asami walk up to the guards, and into the building before starting. They check her bag and let her through, and Korra's satisfied that everything is okay.

Getting a bit hot, Korra rolls down her window, then gets to work on beating her level.

Not even two minutes after Asami had entered the building, something blocks the sun from shining in through Korra's window. Not really caring about the thing or person, since they were right by a maximum security prison, Korra continues to play her game, paying the obstruction no attention. Who was she, to turn down some good shade.

After a few seconds, and maybe realizing that she wasn't going to acknowledge them, the person speaks. "Is this Asami Sato's car?" It was a male voice. A few years older than her, judging from the voice.

"Depends on who's asking." Korra grunts.

"Just a business partner." He chuckles. Korra doesn't like the sound. "I have something for her. Can you give it to her, whenever she returns?" He sticks his hand into the car through the window, something in his grip.

"Just set it on the dash." She grunts, still not looking up from her phone.

He does as he's asked and leaves, without another word. A few moments pass and Korra looks at whatever it was, the man had left. It was an envelope, with writing on the front. It read, ' _To: Asami Sato, From: Viper."_

Korra drops her phone, and bolts out of the car. Once she's outside of the car she looks around, and spots a man watching her. Her eyes lock on his, and he smirks before getting into a car. She takes off in the car's direction, even as it pulls out of the parking lot. Gaining on the car, she pushes her legs past their limit, certain she'd catch up. But then they hit the main road, and all hope of catching Viper is lost, as the car reaches speeds no human can run.

Left huffing, Korra curses herself as she walks back to Asami's car, with the guards watching her closely. If only she'd paid closer attention. But she gets the feeling, that no matter what she would've done, Viper would've gotten away. She felt like he was toying with her. He easily could've given the note to Asami directly. It's obvious he had followed them.

He was going to be a problem.

She opens the letter and reads it. ' _See you at Raiko's party...'_ She pockets the letter.

* * *

Asami sits at a table, with a few of the letters her father had sent her, when he walks in. The first thing that comes to her mind, is that he looks much older and more worn down than she remembers. It's only been about a year, but his hair is fully gray, and he has more wrinkles than he left with.

He sits in front of her, with a regretful look. "Asami, you came."

She slides the letters forward. "I'm here to return these."

"You never opened them." It was a statement.

"Stop writing me. I never want to see, or hear from you again."

She stands to leave. "Please just let me say one thing, then I'll never contact you again."

After a brief hesitation, she sits down, not able to face him, afraid she'd breakdown again.

"I can't forgive myself for all the horrible things, I've done. And I never expect you to forgive me. I tore our family apart, and destroyed our good name. But in a life of regret, you're the one thing I look back on, that makes me smile. I just want you to know, I'm so proud of you Asami. You, are the greatest thing I ever created." He finishes with a slight smile on his face.

A few tears escape Asami's eyes, before she quickly leaves the room.

Exiting the prison, she finds Korra sitting in the passenger seat of her car, where she left her. Getting in the car, she releases a shaky breath and wipes her face.

"Hey, are those tears of joy, or…?" Korra asks, softly.

"He said that he regrets it all. And that I was the best thing he ever created." Asami whispers.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I think… I'll go back in a few hours." She smiles, faintly.

Korra debates telling her about the letter, then decides to keep quiet. She'll keep Viper away from Asami at any cost.

* * *

 **A/N: Time to turn the fluff knob down, and turn up the trouble knob!**

 **I recently made a great investment, and bought the continuation comic of the show. I know that I'm late, but I don't care since the last installment of the comic comes out in a month. Reading something new and authentic, from the world of Korra, was refreshing. It opened my eyes in the way I was writing my characters. I think I've been doing a fairly good job. I just need to make our Korra more… emotional and hot headed. And our Mako more up tight lol.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"So, how have things been going, at the factory?" Hiroshi lightly asks, sliding a tile across the Pai Sho board in front of him.

Asami had been visiting her father regularly, ever since their first visit, a week ago. Things had been going smoothly, for the most part. Their relationship was still very rocky, and they didn't dare bring up Yasuko. But they were trying, and that's what mattered.

Smiling, she thinks about her next move, before answering. "Good. I managed to make the Fire Nation merger you were thinking about. I also, had a meeting with President Raiko." Hiroshi raises his eyebrows, interested. "He wants me to redesign the infrastructure of the city. Make the roadways more efficient. Oh, and he invited me to his wife's birthday party." She finishes, rolling her eyes.

Hiroshi chuckles. "It sounds like you have a lot on your plate. I'm so proud of you. I know it couldn't have been easy, keeping the company afloat, after what I did. But I expected no less. Have you decided on the President's invitation?"

Shrugging, she watches as he makes his next move. "It's not like I have a choice. I'd rather not get on his bad side. I know how annoying he can be. He certainly didn't do the company any favors, after you went away."

Hiroshi hums in response, seemingly thinking about something.

Tilting her head, she narrows her eyes. "What is it?"

Scratching the hair on his chin, Hiroshi crosses his arms. "Do you have a date?"

Asami blinks. She wasn't expecting that. "What?"

"Do you have a date? To the party." He elaborates.

"I..." Asami pauses. Did she have a date? She could ask Korra. They hadn't seen each other in a few days. Although Korra said she wasn't the best in professional settings, she believed she could talk her into it. "I might have a date." She smiles, thinking about Korra.

"Is it that Mako fella?" He asks, trying not to scrunch his nose, but failing.

"No, we broke up almost a year ago?" Asami sighs.

Making another move, Hiroshi focuses on the board. "Was it because of…" He trails off.

"Partly. I just needed space from… everything." She sighs again, moving another tile across the board.

"Asami, I'm-" He's cut off.

"Don't. You've apologized enough. Let's just forget about it." She smiles. She didn't want him asking too many questions, about Korra. That was something she and Korra still needed to talk about, and until they did, she didn't want to tell anyone about them.

Hiroshi smiles back, nodding."It seems as though I've won." He says, gesturing to the board.

"Wha- How?" Asami looks at the board, beyond shocked.

Hiroshi smirks, shrugging. "You were distracted. Almost had me too."

Shaking her head, Asami smiles. Korra always made her lose her cool, and she wasn't even here this time. Korra would be the death of her.

* * *

Back at work, Korra finishes changing the tires on the karts that needed new ones. Kuvira comes in just as she stands.

"Hey Korra. Can I talk to you? In private." She walks away, before Korra can even answer.

"Oh sure, Kuvira." Korra says sarcastically, to the air.

Walking out the door, she leaves the other workers to repairing the rest of the karts. She comes into the room connected to the locker room, and finds Kuvira seated on a table, waiting for her.

"What's up?" Korra asks, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

"There are only a few people I find with skills adequate enough, to even consider asking this. From what I've seen so far, you seem like you're capable. What are doing Saturday?"

"I'm not sure. What's going on?"

Kuvira shakes her head. "I can't say much right now. But it's for a good cause. Trust me." She says, smiling at Korra. "Let me know when you decide." With that she disappears.

Weighing her options, Korra decides that she should probably make time. to investigate whatever it was Kuvira had just invited her to. She'd much rather spend her Saturday with Asami, but she had to figure out what was going on with the triads.

Continuing her work for the rest of her shift, she checks her phone as she clocks out. She notices a text from Asami.

 **Asami: Meet me at my place when you get off?**

 **Korra: omw**

Walking out of her job, Korra rotates her shoulder. Even if she didn't get this job for practical reasons, they still put her to work, and she left everyday tired. She was just glad she didn't have to chase little kids around, in the laser tag room. That seemed exhausting.

As she walks, Korra debates telling the chief about what had Kuvira had invited her to. She then decides against it, realizing it wouldn't look good if the cops showed up, when the newest person just so happened to start working with them. Plus she didn't even know what it was yet. It could be absolutely nothing at all. She hoped it wasn't anything. For her and Kuvira's sake.

Crossing the street, she's reminded how she and Asami had first met. What could Asami want with her today? They usually only spoke to each other at school on week days, that is if Asami showed up, unless they studied together. Oh well, she'd find out once she got there.

She walks from Asami's driveway to her front door, ringing the doorbell, an excessive amount of times in rapid succession. She snickers, knowing Asami hated it when she did that. After standing there for a few moments, her phone rings, and it's Asami.

"Hello?" Korra answers, confused.

"I'm in the back." Asami says, and Korra can hear metal clinking in the background.

"Here I come." She hangs up.

Stepping to the side of the house, she walks around to the back, and into Asami's workshop. "Asami?" She calls.

"I'm over here." Korra can see a wrench, clutched in an oil stained hand, sticking out of the hood of a car.

Making her way through the clutter, she stops behind Asami's form, bent over the hood of a muscle version of the Satomobile. "Hey."

Stepping back from the car, Asami wipes her hands on a towel, smiling at Korra. "Hey."

"What's going on?" Korra asks, pulling Asami into a hug.

Returning the hug, Asami shrugs as she pulls away. "I wanted to see what you were doing Saturday. I'm going to the President's party and I want you to come with me." She says, with her cheeks tinted pink.

Bells instantly go off in Korra's mind. She didn't know how, but she knew was going to be at that party no matter what. It seemed it wouldn't be that hard after all. But then she can't see what is that Kuvira has planned. That doesn't matter to her right know. She has to protect Asami from Viper.

"Of course I'll go!" Korra says, lifting Asami off of her feet, in another, much tighter, hug.

"That's not all." Asami says, laughing.

Setting her back down, Korra tilts her head slightly. "What's up?"

Grabbing her by the hand, Asami leads Korra into the house through the backdoor. They sit on the couch and she doesn't release her hand. "I know we haven't talked about his at all yet, but if we're going to that party together, we're going to have to. What… what are we?" Asami looks deeply into Korra's eyes.

Korra looks back, just as intense. "You're mine. And I'm yours."

A wide grin breaks out across Asami's face, that she can't get rid of. "I like that. I'm glad you feel that way. But you know that when we go to that party, there are going to be a lot of eyes on us? Maybe even some stuff on social media. Are you prepared for that?" Asami raises her eyebrows, concerned.

Korra waves her off. "Eh, I've had a few memes made of me, when I couldn't keep my mouth shut and ended up telling off some politician on Watertribe TV."

"This will be much worse. At least then, it wasn't as huge of an event as the _First Lady's birthday._ And this time it'll be much more personal."

"I don't care. I've told you plenty of times, I couldn't care less what people think of me." Korra shrugs.

Laughing, Asami nods. "Yes you did. Well if you're okay with it, then there's no problem. We should probably tell our friends before they find out, from somewhere else."

"Yeah, you're right, that would suck for them." Korra says, inching closer and closer to Asami.

"When should we tell them?" Asami asks, moving to meet Korra.

Their lips connect, and Korra hums an indecisive 'I don't know' against Asami's mouth, making her laugh. Trailing her tongue against Korra's bottom lip, Asami moans when Korra opens her mouth and grants her access. They get into a heated battle for dominance, and eventually, Korra emerges victorious. She lightly pushes Asami onto her back, and saddles her lap, lips still locked.

They break away from each other, faces flushed and gasping for air, with their foreheads together. "I think," Asami pants, "we should take it slow."

Korra blushes as she looks down at Asami. She slides off of her lap, and back to her seat on the couch. "Heh. Sorry about that. Got a little… excited." She scratches her neck.

Asami can't contain the giggle that escapes her, and it only makes Korra blush further. "It's my fault. I practically stuck my tongue down your throat."

Korra shrugs. "I wasn't complaining."

"I think we both need to breathe, Korra. Anyway, should we go to Narook's? Isn't that where they usually go after class?" Asami asks.

"Yeah, unless the guys are still practicing. But we can go kidnap Opal and interrupt the guys, if we need to." Korra smirks.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Korra and Asami both regret the decision to tell their friends, about their newfound relationship, as they suffer relentless teasing, mainly at the hands of Opal.

"I'm just wondering why it took you guys so long to tell us." Bolin slightly pouts.

"Did you know you liked girls, before meeting each other?" Mako asks.

Korra looks down, with her brow furrowed. "I don't think I like girls."

"What?" Everybody says in unison.

Korra rolls her eyes. "Obviously I like Asami, but I'm not attracted to other girls, the same way I'm attracted to Asami."

Bolin looks at her and blinks. "How does that even work?!"

"Let's use Opal for example. I think she's pretty, extremely pretty actually,"

"Thanks you." Opal interrupts.

"but I'm not attracted to her." Korra finishes her example, ignoring Opal.

"Is it the same with guys?" Bolin tilts his head slightly.

Korra nods.

After Korra's explanation, Mako looks to Asami. "What about you Asami? Are you the same way?"

"Yeah, but I think that's how it is for anybody. Unless they've been in a lot of relationships. It's different for me and Korra, since this is the first time either of us has been with a girl."

"Exactly!" Korra says around a sandwich, she'd stolen from Bolin.

Nodding, Mako crosses his arms. "That makes sense."

"So, what do you guys have planned next?" Opal asks, resting a cheek on her fist.

"We're going to the First Lady's birthday party this Saturday."

Opal looks at them with wide eyes. "Whoa. Isn't it going to be loaded with people? And on, like, the news?"

"Yeah, so what?" Korra shrugs.

Leaning back into his seat, Mako looks from Asami to Korra. "Maybe you guys should think about this a little more."

Korra resists the urge to glare at him, face resting in a frown. "What is that supposed to mean?" She huffs.

"I'm just saying that it's great that you two are in a relationship, but a lot of other people won't see it that way. Don't rush into-" He's cut off.

"We know what we're doing. It's not like we care about anything the media may have to say." Korra says harshly. Interrupting Mako.

"It's not just about the media! Slow down and think for a minute. Do your parents know about you two? Is this how you want them to find out?" Mako says, straining to remain calm.

Asami looks down, until her head snaps up at the sound of Korra, shooting out of her seat. "How about you mind your business, and we'll mind ours?" She grabs Asami's hand, and practically drags her out of Narook's.

Looking from the entrance of the cafe, to where Korra and Asami had just been seated, Bolin scratches his head. "That could've gone better."

Mako throws his head back, releasing a groan. "Whatever. She'll get over it."

Driving back to Asami's house, Korra groans. "Ugh, he's so annoying. Like us dating is the worst thing to ever happen."

"Um, how did you end up driving?" Asami asks, smirking.

Looking from the road, to Asami then back, Korra shrugs. "I don't know it just happened."

"… He has a point you know." Asami says softly, trying not to upset Korra further.

"What?" Korra looks at Asami, with an annoyed and incredulous look on her face. "You're kidding right? Please tell me you're kidding."

"Come on, Korra. Don't you think your parents deserve to find out something like this from you, and not the TV or social media?"

Korra waves her off. "My parents are too busy for TV and social media anyway."

"Korra you know what I mean." Asami frowns.

"Fine, we can tell them. Today actually."

"What?" Asami isn't sure she had heard her correctly.

"Yeah, we can video chat with them. As long as my dad isn't busy. Actually let me text them both right now, and see if they're free." Stopping at a red light, Korra pulls her phone from her pocket and her thumbs fly across the screen.

Asami is beyond nervous, as she watches Korra tap her screen with a slight scowl on her face. "Korra wait-" She's interrupted mid-sentence.

"No. You wanted me to tell them. So I will. Besides, there's no better time than now." She puts her phone back in her pocket, having sent the text. "And you know we have to tell your dad too."

"What?" Asami is tired of saying that word.

"You two are rebuilding your relationship, so he should hear this from you, not however he gets his news. Because apparently we're gonna go viral." Korra rolls her eyes. "So the next time you visit him, I'm going. Unless you wanna tell him yourself."

"I-" Asami hesitates, taking a deep breath. This was a lot to process. But when she looks at the blue eyed beauty driving her car, with that annoyed expression on her face, she decides it's worth it. "You should come with me."

Korra smiles. "Good. I'm glad we could come to an agreement. Because I'm terrified."

Looking at her with a blank expression, Asami laughs while shaking her head. That girl sure knew how to put up a good front. She looked fearless, while arguing with her earlier. "We'll get through this together."

"I hope so." Korra murmurs.

Silence encompasses them the rest of the drive to Asami's house, and when they finally get there, Korra notices the text from her parents.

"Looks like they're both free right now. You got a laptop or something we can use?" Korra asks over her shoulder, walking in the house.

"Yeah, follow me." Asami leads Korra into her home office. "You can use this computer."

"Thanks." Korra sits in front the computer, at Asami's desk, and enters in her Skype information. After a moment the screen shows the faces of her parents.

Tonraq is seated, slightly behind Senna on her side, with an arm draped across her shoulder. They both wear broad smiles.

Korra waves at the two of them. "Hi guys."

Senna is the first to speak. "Korra, it so nice to see you! Where are you? It looks like you're in an office."

"I'm at my friend's place. She's letting me use her computer."

"Oh, that's sweet."

"Not that I don't love hearing from you, but since you rarely request both of us at the same time, you'll have to forgive me, for thinking there's something going on." Tonraq chuckles.

"Actually, I wanted you to meet someone." Korra leans out of the camera's view, and grabs Asami by the wrist, pulling her next to her, and into the camera's view. "This is Asami."

Senna's eyebrows instantly shoot up. "The same Asami that hit you?"

Both Korra and Asami blush furiously.

"I mean yes, but that's not- that has nothing to do with why I want you to meet her." Korra stammers.

Both of her parents wait expectantly, for her to continue.

"I uh, we're- we both," Korra nervously stammers, until Asami interlocks her fingers with Korra's. Her parents notice this and look at each other. Korra takes a deep breath. "Asami and I are dating." She says, in one breath.

Tonraq and Senna sit in silence for a moment, until smiles break out across both of their faces. "We're so happy for you!" Senna exclaims, holding her hands close to her chest.

"We'll be visiting sometime within the month, and when we do I can't wait to meet you Asami. I've heard great things about you, and what you've done for your city." Tonraq nods his head at her with a serious look, and she can instantly tell he's talking about turning in her father.

The smile that breaks out across her face, is so wide that it hurts. "I can't wait to meet you two either. And um, I'm sorry for hitting your daughter with my car."

"It's alright. She probably wasn't looking both ways anyway." Tonraq laughs.

Korra rolls her eyes. " _Haha_ Dad. Sorry to tell you, but I made the same joke already."

He only laughs harder.

"Anyway, we've got to go. I'll talk to you guys later. Love you."

"Goodbye Korra. We love you!" They say in unison.

As soon as her parents disconnect, Korra slumps in the chair releasing a long sigh. "That went better than I expected."

"Your parents are nice. And you look just like your mom."

"Meaning that she's very very pretty." Korra smirks.

Asami rolls her eyes, returning Korra's smirk. "Technically, that would make you very very pretty."

Korra rolls the chair closer to Asami, causing her to back away. "Are you trying to leave me for my mom, Asami?"

Just as she's about to answer, Asami's back hits the wall, and Korra is there, standing in front of her, blocking her escape. "I wouldn't dream of it. Tonraq is a big man."

"Try and leave me, and you won't have to worry about him." Korra says, with her lips against Asami's.

Asami can't hold back anymore and tackles Korra back onto the chair, knocking it over in the process.

Korra laughs. "I see why we should take it slow now."

Asami only blushes.

* * *

 **A/N: Here's the new chapter… four days late smh. I know I suck.**

 **Let me know what you think!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Asami sits at a table next to Korra, directly across from her father, who hasn't said a word since meeting Korra. The tension in the room is so thick Asami can practically feel it, suffocating her as she tries to breath.

She looks between Hiroshi and Korra, and can't help but be amazed at the look on Korra's face. She's staring at Hiroshi with just as much intensity, as he is her. Then Asami notices, that Korra is nervously fidgeting with her bracelet. She discretely grabs her hand under the table, and Korra grips it in a death lock.

Running her thumb over the back of Korra's hand soothingly, Asami feels bad for her. She glares at Hiroshi slightly.

Feeling he had seen enough, Hiroshi sighs, leaning back in his chair. "This is a surprise. When you said you might have a date, I wasn't expecting Chief Tonraq's daughter." He says, rubbing his chin.

Korra looks shocked. "You know who I am?"

Letting his eyes rest on Korra, without moving his head, Hiroshi simply looks at her before answering. "Of course I do. Anybody with political knowledge knows who you are." He says, causing Korra to smile. "The loud mouthed, hot headed, and short tempered daughter of Chief Tonraq." Korra's smile instantly falls.

Having heard enough, Asami downright gives her father the coldest look Korra had ever seen on her face. Just as she opens her mouth to speak, Hiroshi says something. "Who also is strong spirited, and has a good heart. Nothing you've ever said has been for personal gain, and you always thought of the people of your tribe first. Although you may be a little idealistic at times, your heart is always in the right place. I like someone who isn't afraid to speak their mind, and fight for what they think is right." Hiroshi lowers his head, being reminded of his own passion to avenge his wife, and why he was in there in the first place. "Although you're not what I had imagined for Asami, from the things I've seen and heard of you throughout the media, I think that I can live with the thought of you two being together." He winks at Korra.

Showing all thirty-two of her teeth, Korra beams at Hiroshi, in response. "That means a lot. I- thank you."

Korra's attention is drawn away, when she hears sniffling. She looks to Asami and sees her wiping her face. "Asami? What's wrong?" She gently pulls Asami's hands away from her face, so she can see her clearly. Asami's eyes are slightly wet, but she's smiling.

"Nothing at all." She chuckles. "Thanks dad."

He simply closes his eyes, smiling as he shrugs. "How did you two meet anyway?"

Korra snorts, in response, causing Hiroshi to look at her curiously. Asami blushes, as his eyes turn to her, awaiting an answer. "I um, hit her with my car." She mumbles.

"Excuse me?" Hiroshi blinks.

"I hit her with my car!" Asami huffs, crossing her arms, as Korra bursts out laughing.

Looking between the two of them with shock clear on his face, Hiroshi chuckles. "How did you manage to do that?"

Slinking down into her chair, Asami's blush darkens. Korra answers instead. "I wasn't looking both ways." She says, after catching her breath just to, fall into a fit of giggles.

Watching as Asami, punches Korra in the arm, causing her to rub it while pouting, Hiroshi decides, that Korra really was good for Asami. For now at least. "When are you two going to the President's party?"

Shrugging, Asami corrects herself in her seat. "In a few hours."

"Is there some kind of crazy dress code? You never really know with the First Lady." Hiroshi says.

Asami shakes her head. "Not that I know of. I think it's just formal attire."

"Oh crap!" Korra exclaims.

Tilting his head, Hiroshi raises an eyebrow at her. "What is it?"

"I completely forgot, I left all my formal dresses in the Southern Watertribe."

"That's alright. We can find you something to wear."

Korra pouts. "Really? I wanted to show up naked."

Hiroshi watches, as they bicker lightly back and forth. It warms his heart to see Asami, so happy and full of life again. He hadn't seen her like that in a while. He didn't necessarily like, same sex relationships, but he didn't dislike them either. But he was in no position to say anything about who Asami dated. She was just being nice, by bringing Korra here. And if Korra made her happy and treated her well, who was he to try and discourage them?

"You know..." He starts, gaining their attention. "You two can leave. I doubt this is the best place to have a date."

Asami looks from him to Korra, who only shrugs. She looks back to him. "Are you sure? It's no pro-" She's interrupted.

"I'm positive. Don't let me hold you up. Go have fun." He waves her off.

Looking from him to Korra again, Asami is thinking about her options, when she feels Korra's hand grip her thigh. Korra starts rubbing it in soothing circles. She gets dangerously high, and just lets her hand rest where it is, gripping Asami's upper thigh.

Taking a deep breath through her nose, Asami watches as Korra looks around the room, seemingly minding her business, but Asami can see the slight smirk on her face.

"I- I mean… if you insist." Asami says, swatting Korra's hand away before standing and hugging her father. "Love you, dad."

"I love you too, Asami." He says as they pull away. He watches as Asami holds the door open for Korra, who is shaking his hand. "And you," He says tightening his grip, not enough to hurt her, but forceful enough to get his point across. "treat Asami well, yes?"

Giving him an uneasy smile, Korra nods. "You got it, Sir."

Once they leave he shakes his head, chuckling at the door.

* * *

"I don't know about this, Asami." Korra says, looking at her reflection, in the body length mirror, in Asami's room.

They had went shopping, and eventually found a few dresses for Korra to wear. But now that they were actually getting ready to go, nothing looked good enough, and Korra was getting more and more agitated.

In her defense, she had a lot on her mind, not only was she scared about the _entire country_ ruining her and Asami's brand new relationship, she also had to worry about the Triple Threats trying to attack Asami. It was all too much to process. And this tight dress wasn't making it any better.

Not liking the slight frown on her girlfriend's face, Asami steps behind her and wraps her arms around her waist, placing her head on her shoulder. "I really don't see what the problem is. You look great, trust me. I wouldn't lie." Asami places a soft kiss, to the side of her neck.

Looking at Asami's reflection, Korra quirks an eyebrow? "If I looked bad, you wouldn't tell me I looked good? Even if I thought I did?"

"Nope." Asami says stepping away, looking for her earrings.

"How sweet." Korra says dryly, still examining her outfit.

She was wearing a form fitting blue dress that was so dark it looked black, and shimmered slightly when the light struck. One side of the dress stopped just above her knee, while the other side slanted downward, almost reaching her ankle. Her hair was up in the usual bun she wore, whenever she went somewhere that required more than a ponytail. The only differences, were the two stray strands falling to the side and framing her face, done at Asami's insistence. She finished it all off, with some open toed heels, and diamond earrings that her mother had given her years ago.

Asami was wearing a similar all black dress, that stopped right above her knees, with red bottom heels. Walking to her jewelry box, she opens it and looks for her earrings. Staring back at her, is the necklace she bought for Korra all those weeks ago. She pulls it out and walks over to Korra.

"Here." Standing behind Korra once again, she clasps the necklace around her neck.

Once the necklace is secure, Korra gently touches the blue stone hanging from her neck. "What's this?"

Stepping back, Asami shrugs. "A present."

"What?" Korra spins around, facing Asami.

"Remember when I bought everyone those gifts, a few weeks ago? I had bought this for you, but you weren't there. I forgot about it until now." Asami shoves her wrist through a bracelet.

"Why?" She cocks her head to the side. "Why me, I mean. I can understand the others, you guys have been friends for a while."

"I originally bought them to show how much I appreciated everyone. Considering how I had been treating everybody, including you, I felt it was deserved. Well, you all deserve much more than a few gifts, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

Korra pulls Asami into a hug. "Did you know that blue, just so happens to be my favorite color?"

"Oh really, I haven't noticed." Asami chuckles.

"Mhmm, it's weird right, how coincidences work. But seriously, I love it. Thank you so much." She gives Asami a quick peck.

Pouting, Asami's face rests in a slight frown. "If you wanna thank me..." She pulls Korra into a deep kiss by the front of her dress, causing her to moan, seemingly unsatisfied with the earlier one. "Kiss me like that." She suddenly backs out of Korra's reach, leaving her shaken form grasping for the wall so she doesn't fall.

Asami looks at Korra as she gets herself together, and when their eyes lock, Korra's darkened orbs have an intense look in them, and her face is flushed. Asami has to look away immediately, unless they want to be late.

"Asami..." Korra says, with longing dripping from her voice. To Asami, it nearly sounded like she was begging.

Clearing her throat, Asami returns her gaze back to Korra. "I'm sorry baby. If we don't leave now we'll be late. Payback for earlier?" She chuckles wryly. Payback isn't supposed to be like a two-edged sword though, she thinks with a sigh.

Taking several deep breaths, Korra straightens herself out. She gives Asami a crooked smile. "I'm your baby, huh?"

"Yep. And I'm yours. I already know, I don't have to ask." Asami says, grabbing her keys.

Laughing, Korra pushes Asami out of the door. "So full of yourself..."

"Am I wrong?"

"Of course not, _baby_." Korra says, leaning over about to place a kiss to Asami's lips, before thinking better of it and sliding into the passenger seat.

"Did you just-" Asami says, shocked.

Rubbing the back of her neck and grinning, Korra shrugs. "I'm still a little shaky. I don't want to make it worse. We did say we were going to take it slow. That'd be kinda hard to do with me actively wanting to rip your clothes off..."

Asami's breath catches and her entire body heats up. "… Good point."

Over the past couple of weeks, it was getting harder for the two to keep their hands off of each other. It seemed as though Korra was having a harder time than Asami. But that wasn't true, Asami was just much better at hiding it. Even now as they're sitting in the car heading to the President's party, Korra's cheeks are still tinted pink.

"Maybe we should've left earlier." Korra huffs, watching the traffic ahead of them go nowhere.

Checking the time on her phone, Asami nods. "Agreed. We're already gonna be late, but at this rate we won't get there until thirty minutes after it's started."

"Is there any way you can bypass the traffic?" Korra asks, hopefully.

Asami sticks her head out of her window, getting a good look at all the cars up ahead, before she settles back into her seat, shaking her head. "There's no room. I guess we'll just be late."

"Damn." Korra curses under her breath. Just another thing for the media to use against them. She pulls out her phone and starts scrolling through her feed on Instagram, when a picture catches her eye.

Exiting the app she goes to her contacts, clicking a name and raising the phone to her ear.

"Hey, Kya."

…

"Nothing much, just stuck in traffic."

…

"Well, that's actually why I called. You guys wouldn't happen to be in her work car, would you?"

…

"Great! I'm uh, here with Asami and we're heading to the President's party, and we _reeeally_ don't wanna be late."

…

"Heh. Something like that!" She rubs her neck.

…

"It's a black SatoMobile. You can't miss it. I don't even think it's been released yet."

…

"Thanks, Kya you're the best."

Hanging up the phone, she looks over at Asami who's watching her curiously.

"We might not be late after all." Korra beams.

Confused, Asami tilts her head slightly. "What-"

Behind them police sirens sound, and cars begin pulling over. Asami gets ready to do the same, until Korra places a hand over hers, shaking her head.

Beyond confused, Asami complies and waits until a cop car pulls up on the side of her. She rolls down her window, and comes face to face with the doctor they had seen after Korra's accident. "It's you!"

Laughing, Kya waves. "Hello, Asami. How are you?"

Before she can answer, Korra leans over the center console. "Hey guys! I really appreciate the help!"

Lin grumbles something about professionalism, not even looking their way, while Kya laughs again.

"Lin's being a grouch as usual, but we're glad to help." Lin scoffs.

Finally facing them, Lin looks at Asami. "Just follow me." And then she rolls up the window.

Stunned, Asami simply watches as Lin turns on her siren and clears a path for them. "Was- was that the Chief?" Asami asks, still confused.

"Yes it was. You should probably follow her, before she shoots us." Korra gestures at the car in front of them.

Wasting no time, Asami does as she is told.

* * *

Finally outside of the party, and only five minutes late, they sit in the car holding each other's hands.

"Are you ready?" Korra asks.

"No. What about you?"

"Not at all. I feel like I'm gonna throw up." Korra groans.

"Me too, actually." Asami releases a shaky breath. She grabs Korra by the back of her neck and brings their foreheads together. "You're my baby, right? We'll get through this. Together. Forget these people. Even if we get the worst response ever, we have a pretty nice group of people supporting us back home. So, what do you say?"

Giving Asami's hand a firm squeeze, Korra nods. "Let's do it."

Exiting the car, Korra links her arm with Asami's, as they walk up the steps to the building. Just outside the doors, they get bombarded by thousands of camera flashes, and questions.

" _Asami! Asami! Hey Asami, over here! Is this your girlfriend?! Is it true you've been dating for a while?! Care to make a statement on the rumors that you've been visiting your father?! Sources tell us, that they've seen Viper leaving Future Industries! Are you working with the Triple Threats?!"_

Having heard enough, Korra forces her way through the crowd of reporters, and clears a path for them into the building.

Once they get inside, Korra's mind is blown. There are people everywhere, all kinds of food, and even performers dancing around, playing with fire and knives, and one was even wrestling a bear!

"Wow. All this for a birthday, huh." Korra says, into Asami's ear, over the loud rumble of chatter.

"Well in her case, you only turn thirty-five four times."

Korra snorts in response. "Where is she anyway?"

Looking around for a while, Asami points upwards. Korra looks in the direction of Asami's finger, and sees the First Lady seated, high above the ground, on some sort of overhang, watching the party play out.

"That isn't creepy at all."

"Korra?" Someone calls out to her, from behind. She spins around and finds, Tenzin with his arm around Pema. "What brings you here?"

Korra pulls both of them into a hug. "Hey guys. I'm here with, Asami." She says, motioning behind her as she pulls away.

"Asami Sato?!" Tenzin says, highly confused.

"She didn't threaten to run you over again, did she?" Pema teases, causing Asami's cheeks to redden.

Wrapping her arm around Asami's hip, she shakes her head. "Nope."

Pema covers her mouth, as a high pitched noise of excitement escapes her.

Tenzin simply gives the two a warm smile. "I'm happy for you both. You should come have dinner with us soon. The kids miss you. And I'm sure they'd love to meet Asami."

"I miss them too. I'll come by soon, I promise. I'll bring the guys and Opal with me too."

"Please do. Oh by the way, you haven't seen Suyin, have you? I need to speak with her."

Korra shakes her head. "I didn't even know she was here."

Frowning slightly, Tenzin nods. "Ah well, we'll keep looking. It was nice seeing you. Korra. Asami." Pema smiles at the two, as she and Tenzin leave.

Rubbing her neck, Korra turns to Asami. "Sorry about that."

"It was no problem at all. They're really nice." Asami assures her.

"You don't have to go to that dinner, if you don't want to. I'd understand."

Shaking her head, Asami smiles. "No, I wanna go. Sounds like it'll be fun."

"Well prepare yourself. Their kids can be a little much, but they're very sweet. I think you'll like them." Korra bumps Asami lightly, with her shoulder.

"I hope so." She sighs, as she studies the room. "I'm already tired of being here. I wanna go home."

"How much longer do we have to stay?"

Sighing once again, Asami checks the time on her phone. "At least an hour."

"Welp… we might as well make the most out of it. Let's try the food!" Korra drags Asami to the food table, and looks over all the choices.

"Oh my Spirits, they have authentic Watertribe food. It better taste good or I'm complaining." Korra says, as she stuffs some kind of cooked sea creature into her mouth.

Asami watches in amusement. "Complaining to who exactly?"

"You're the only person who cares, so you."

Raising an eyebrow, Asami snorts. "Who said I cared?"

"You're the only person, who'll pretend to care." Korra corrects herself.

Laughing, Asami places a swift kiss to Korra's cheek. "Of course, baby."

Korra doesn't have time to react to the feeling in her lower stomach, because she hears something that catches her attention, over the rest of the chatter in the room.

"Carpet munchers."

She turns toward the direction that she heard the voice in. "Somebody got something to say?"

"Yeah. You two are gross. Go take that shit somewhere else!" A man, looking to be in his mid twenties says, causing a few people behind him to laugh.

Highly annoyed, Korra walks up to him and grabs him by his collar. "Maybe if you would mind your own business, there wouldn't be any problems. Or are you too stupid to figure that out on your own?"

"Get your hands off of me." He growls.

Korra simply throws him onto the ground. She turns to leave, when she notices Asami quickly moving towards the group of people. Spinning around, she sees Asami stop one of the men from throwing a drink at Korra, causing it to spill over her hand and his shirt.

"What the fuck?" He shouts.

Korra grabs Asami by the wrist and drags her away from the growing crowd of people. "Come on, lets go clean your hands off. Thanks for that."

"It was nothing. It just sucks that people have to go through that all the time." Asami sighs as Korra puts her hand under a running faucet.

"You're one of those people now, you know." Korra chuckles.

Asami smiles at Korra. "Yeah, you're right. We both are."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Korra rests her forehead against Asami's.

Closing her eyes, Asami pouts. "I really wanna leave now. Are you staying the night?"

"No."

"What why?" Asami asks, beyond shocked.

Korra laughs at her. "Because you're staying at my place. I don't wanna leave Naga alone again, tonight."

"Oh. Yes, that's perfect." Asami laughs.

"How long are we gonna hide in this bathroom?"

Playfully rolling her eyes, Asami scoffs. "We're not hiding. I'm just enjoying some alone time with you." She says, lightly placing her lips on Korra's.

"Oh you'd better stop before they call us _gay_ again." Korra jokes, before returning Asami's kiss.

After breaking away from each other, Asami catches her breath. "Technically, he called us carpet munchers."

"I'm sorry to tell him that he's misinformed, because I haven't munched your carpet. _Yet_."

Asami's legs wobble slightly. "Yet?" She croaks.

Just as Korra's about to respond the lights go off, and shortly after a scream follows from the main room.

"What the hell?!" She hears Asami say, followed by the bathroom door opening and closing.

"Asami? Asami?!"

* * *

 **A/N: So here it is after 3 months. Ik im the worst. Send me all your hate mail, I understand.**

 **But ignoring my negligence, the chapter is here. Tell me what you think, I feel like I'm a little rusty. Too much? Not Enough? Let me know your thoughts, please!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Bursting through the bathroom door, Korra looks around the main room, which is now set ablaze in a panic. From the hundreds of people aimlessly wandering around, to the flickering emergency light, Korra is about to lose her mind. And on top of it all, she still hasn't seen Asami.

Something catches her eye. On the wall, under where the First Lady was seated, there are words painted in some kind of glow in the dark substance.

 _This is only the beginning._

Slumped over in a pool of blood, beneath the writing, is President Raiko. Korra rushes over to his side and checks for a pulse. Her fingers keep slipping, due to the amount of blood coating them.

She feels him move slightly, and notices that he's looking at her. He tries to speak but it only results in gurgled noises. He weakly lifts his arm and points upwards. Looking up, Korra understands that he's trying to express his concern for his wife.

"We'll check on her after we get you out of here safe." Korra says, trying not to let her emotions take over her.

Raiko simply shakes his head. Or at least Korra thinks he does, it's hard to tell in this lighting, on top of the fact that it was such a weak movement.

He tries to push her away from him, but fails. "Hold on I'll get help." Korra says, looking at who is around them.

Finding nobody calm enough to properly keep watch over the President, Korra simply returns to his side, and holds his hand.

"Hang in there, I'm gonna get you outta here."

But it's too late. His head is slumped down on his chest, and she can no longer hear the ragged breaths leaving his body. She checks for a pulse once more, just to be sure, and surely enough there isn't one to be found.

Rising from the ground, Korra punches the wall next to her, as her blood stained hands shake. This is ridiculous. Who could've done this?! A few people pop into her mind as she asks that question. But what did the Triple Threats want? Who were they working for? This was a lot to process. And now wasn't the time, nor the place to try and process anything.

Willing herself to leave the President, she looks for a way to reach the First Lady. Not seeing anything more convenient, she climbs onto the table where all the food had been, and jumps onto the overhang, pulling herself over. Once she's reached her destination, she sees the First Lady, laid out on the ground. Rushing to her side, much like she had done with Raiko, she feels for a pulse, and is relieved to feel a strong rhythmic pound against her fingers. She's just unconscious, thank the Spirits.

Pulling out her phone, Korra dials Lin.

"Lin, we've got a problem."

…

"That's not all. The President's dead."

…

"Considering I just watched him take his last breath, I think I'm sure."

…

"I don't know, there's too much commotion. The First Lady's safe, but unconscious on her little balcony thing."

…

"I haven't seen Kya, but I'm sure she's safe, probably helping people somewhere. But I've got to go. I can't find Asami."

Hanging up her phone, Korra looks out over the party, and scans for Asami. Spotting her target, Korra wastes no time jumping over the edge of the railing, landing harshly on the table. Sprinting in the direction she had saw Asami, she makes it to her, and grabs her by the shoulder, spinning her around. "Asami, are you-" The person looking back at her isn't Asami.

Korra backs away, and continues her search. Just when she's about to give up hope and lose her mind, she sees three men, the largest of the three carrying a woman in a dark dress with a bag over her head, exit the building.

"Asami!" She quickly follows after them. Once she makes it outside, she sees them dump the body in the back of a car, and drive off. She follows on foot, refusing to lose Asami. She won't let them take her. But the distance between them is only growing, and quickly. Lungs burning, and legs straining, Korra feels tears slip down her face, as she realizes that she won't be able to catch them. Ragged breaths escape her body as she continues to push herself to the limit, refusing to give up. A car pulls up in front of her and she instantly recognizes it. The back door swings open, and she sees Kya looking back at her.

"Get in kid!" She hears Lin yell, from the front.

Jumping in the seat next to Kya, Korra has no time to even close the door as Lin peels off after Asami's kidnappers.

"What the hell is going on?!" Lin yells, to no-one in particular. "First the President gets _murdered,_ the First Lady knocked out, and now Asami Sato kidnapped?!"

Korra hadn't even heard her. She's too focused on the car they were currently pursuing. Leaning into the front of the car to get a better view, she grinds her teeth. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

Lin ignores her, while Kya places a soothing hand on her shoulder. "We'll get her back."

"I know." Korra's nails dig into the palm of her hand.

"Hold on!" Lin cautions, as she makes a very sharp turn.

Finally having reached their target, Lin pulls out her pistol.

"Whoa, be careful! Asami's in there!" Korra yells.

Lin simply scoffs, before sticking her arm out of the window, and shooting out one of the tires.

Seeing the car spin out and hit a pole, Korra jumps out of her already opened door, and reaches them just as the three men from earlier all exit the car. She isn't deterred at all. If anything, she's enraged. How dare they touch Asami?

Lin and Kya follow Korra's lead, exiting the car and standing on either side of her. The two smaller men both rush Lin and Kya, leaving the biggest for Korra, just as she wanted.

"Who do you work for? And what do they want with Asami?" She asks as they circle each other.

He only stares at her.

"Don't wanna talk? Fine."

Running towards him, Korra punches him in the stomach, causing him to look at her and smirk. He didn't even move. He kicks her square in the chest, and she hits the ground hard, losing the small amount of breath she had managed to regain, after chasing them on foot.

Rising to her feet, she clutches her ribs. He's tough. This isn't gonna be easy. But Korra likes a challenge.

Figuring that since he's so much bigger than her, he can't possibly match her speed, she takes off running at him again, only this time she throws a swift jab at his gut, then quickly moves out of the way of his fist, trying to connect with her face. She spins around him, coming behind him and kicking the back of his knee, causing him to stumble slightly. She takes the opening, and jumps in the air kicking him in the back with both of her feet. They both hit the ground, but she recovers more quickly than he does. She walks towards his downed form, and starts pounding on his face. He releases a growl and grabs her fist as it tries to connect with his face again, then he switches their positions, and Korra's head spins. He hits her square in the jaw, knocking her entire head to the side. She briefly closes her eyes, seeing stars. Bringing her arms up to protect her face, he pounds away at her defenses. She moves her head to the side as another fist tries to connect with her face, causing him to hit the concrete. She uses this time to kick his body off of her, using all the strength in her body. Once he's no longer hovering over her, she stands on shaky feet, and wheezes. At this rate, she'd lose if she didn't end this fight quickly.

Not giving him the chance to correct himself, Korra sends a vicious kick to the side of his head, but it isn't enough. He rises to his knees, and she jumps on his back, and puts him in a choke-hold. She instantly regrets doing so, as he rams her back into the car that Asami was still inside of. She doesn't let go. He rams her back into the car once more, before simply jumping and landing on the ground, back first. Korra lies on the ground, spread out, as he rolls off of her. He looks down at her and laughs.

Korra tries to move, but her body protests, and she groans instead. He raises his foot, getting ready to stomp on her head, when Lin aims her gun at him. "Freeze!"

He does as he's told, leg hovering in the air.

Kya rushes to Korra's side as Lin handcuffs the men they had fought. "Oh my Spirits, Korra are you okay? Korra?"

That's the last thing Korra hears, before losing consciousness.

* * *

Feeling slight discomfort, Korra tries to roll over, when her ribs explode in pain. She gasps, opening her eyes immediately. She doesn't recognize where she is. Looking around the dark room, she realizes she's in a hospital bed. That's when all the memories of the party come flooding back to her. She shoots upright. "Asami!" Her ribs scream in pain, and she hunches over, clutching her mid-section.

Somebody immediately comes to her side, and rubs soothing circles in her back. "Hey, calm down. I'm right here." Asami says.

Once her eyes adjust to the darkness, they focus on Asami's face, and she's instantly filled with relief. "What happened?" She asks, taking Asami's hand into hers.

"I woke up after you and that guy kept slamming each other against the car, and then Lin arrested the three, and brought us here. That was last night. You've been asleep ever since." Asami says, brushing her thumb against a dark bruise on Korra's cheek.

"What? I've been asleep for twenty-four hours?!"

"Well, you broke two ribs, and that was after chasing a car for almost six blocks. I would assume you'd be exhausted." Asami kisses her forehead. "Thank you. They told me about everything you did to get me back. But if something like that ever happens again, please don't push yourself so hard. If Lin wasn't there, they would've killed you."

Korra looks away sheepishly. "He only won because I was tired after chasing them down. Regardless, we're both here in one piece, so I'd say they failed."

Asami glares at Korra, but doesn't say anything more on the matter. "Lin's been interrogating them the entire time. They haven't said much. The investigation at the party, hasn't turned up much either." Asami sighs.

"They'll come for you again."

"I know. Or at the very least, they'll send Viper."

Korra nods. It was all so confusing. "What do they want?"

Sighing again, Asami shrugs. "We won't know until they want us to know. But even still… killing the President? This is bigger than I originally thought."

"What's going to happen, now that the President's dead?" Korra asks, as she gently lays back. She was still tired.

"Well, naturally the Vice President is going to take over. But the country's going to be in a state of chaos for a while. The President was just killed, and we don't even know who did it, nor why they did it. All in all, this is a very bad situation."

Nodding again, Korra closes her eyes. Asami had described it perfectly. This is a very bad situation. They know the Triple Threats are involved, but it was obvious they're just being used. They're nothing more than puppets. The problem is, who exactly is the puppet master. And what do they want?

Sighing, Korra opens her eyes and looks to Asami. "When can I leave?"

Just as she asks her question, Kya walks into the room. "You can leave tonight, but Asami will have to monitor you again. Your ribs are in terrible condition, and you took a nasty hit to the head."

Korra pouts. This is like deja vu.

"Your ribs are fractured, so you'll have to take it easy for six to twelve weeks, while they heal. So that means leave fighting to the professionals." Kya smirks.

"You're one to talk. What happened to your lip?" Korra asks, referring to Kya's bottom lip, which is split, and slightly swollen.

"We're here to talk about the person who tried to fight the hulk by themselves, not me." Kya laughs.

"Whatever." Korra huffs, before groaning in pain.

"If it makes you feel any better, he's got a few lumps and bruises covering his face."

Frowning, Korra shakes her head. "But he's not laid up in a hospital bed, is he?"

"And you won't be, in a few minutes. In case you forgot, we weren't there to fight. We were there to rescue Asami, and we did. We won, so cheer up." Kya says, before lightly tapping Korra's forehead with a clipboard, then exiting.

"She's right. If you stop pouting, I'll massage your back when we get to my place. I know it must be killing you."

Now that Asami had mentioned it, Korra realizes her back really does feel like crap. "Okay."

Asami gives Korra a bright smile. "Alright then, let's go. We have to pick up some stuff for you, so you can make a full recovery."

* * *

"So how exactly, is a back massage going to work while my ribs are broken?" Korra asks, lying on her back holding an ice pack against her chest.

"Um… I really didn't think about that, when I offered." Asami says, sheepishly. "The offer still stands, whenever you're up to it. I'm sorry."

"It's alright. It's my fault for letting him crush me with his body weight." Korra frowns.

Smiling, Asami shakes her head. "You put up a good fight, from what I saw, and I only really started watching towards the end. I would've helped, but whatever they drugged me with, left me really drowsy."

"That was a terrible fight. The odds were against me from the start." Korra disagrees.

"And you still fought, knowing that you'd most likely lose?"

"Of course. I couldn't just let them have you."

Asami sighs. "Korra he was going to kill you. I don't want you to get killed, because of me."

Struggling to sit up, Korra grabs Asami's hand. "I can't help it. I'd rather die knowing I did all I could, than live regretting that I didn't do anything."

Giving Korra a sad smile, Asami brings Korra's hand up to her lips and kisses her swollen knuckles. "And I love that about you. I just don't want to be the reason you get hurt. It's a weird mix of feelings, I know I'm not making much sense. In simpler terms, I want you to keep helping people, but I don't want you to get hurt, especially because of me."

"I understand. I'll try to be more careful." Korra says, as Asami continues to play with her battered knuckles.

"Do you want to try and take a bath? I'll fill the tub for you."

"Please?"

Asami responds with a smile and brief kiss, before disappearing into the bathroom.

"Alright, the water's all nice and warm, whenever you're ready. If you need help, just call and I'll be there." She helps Korra off of the bed, and into the bathroom.

"Thanks Asami." Korra says, as Asami leaves.

Shrugging out of her dress, proves to be more difficult than she thought it would. As it hits the ground, she frowns at it's tattered and torn form. There's no way anybody is wearing that dress again. It's sad too. They made her legs look great.

As she sinks down into the water Asami had ran for her, she releases a long sigh. It had been a long day, and she just wants to lie back and let the water wash away her tension. So she does just that.

After a solid ten minutes, of just letting her body soak, she decides it's time to clean herself. She soaps up her rag, and gets to work. This also is gonna be harder than she thought, because as she tries to wash her stomach, she hits a particularly tender area, and sucks in a sharp breath.

She bites her bottom lip, as she thinks about calling Asami for help. Maybe she could do it herself. She tries again, and doesn't make it very far. Each time she touches her mid-section, it bursts in an unimaginable amount of pain.

By the time she gives up, a few tears have escaped. "Asami..." She calls out softly.

"Korra? Are you okay?" She can hear the concern in Asami's voice, and it warms her heart.

"I need help."

"Okay, I'm coming in."

Korra covers her chest with one arm, as Asami slowly enters the bathroom.

"Oh my Spirits, Korra are you crying?" Asami kneels outside of the tub, and wipes away one of Korra's tears.

Chuckling, Korra gasps and new tears roll down her face. "Heh. No."

Watching Korra in so much pain saddens Asami. Her face sits in a slight pout. "How bad does it hurt?"

Korra tilts her head towards the ceiling thinking, and Asami's eyes drift toward the curve of her chest. "Hmm, maybe a nine?"

Asami's hand hovers over Korra's stomach. "Can I?"

Nodding, Korra braces herself. Asami lightly pokes her mid-section and Korra clenches her teeth.

"Spirits Korra." Asami breaths. She had barely even touched her. "Maybe we'll just be extra careful with your ribs."

Asami leans over the edge of the tub, grabbing the rag, and starts cleaning Korra's wounds.

Korra takes shallow breaths through her mouth, with her eyes closed. When she opens them she sees Asami, leaning over the edge of the tub, on her knees. That can't be comfortable at all. A wild idea forms in her mind…

"You know..." Korra starts.

"Hmm?" Asami continues scrubbing lightly.

"You could join me. If you want." Korra says, blushing fiercely.

"Are you sure?" Asami asks, with a smile already on her face.

Korra simply nods.

Standing, Asami starts to shrug out of her dress. Korra lowers her eyes, onto the suds in the water.

"You don't have to look away." Asami says so softly, that Korra thought that she had imagined it.

When Korra looks back up, Asami's dress hits the floor and she stands before her, in her underwear. She realizes that Korra's eyes, are already starting to darken, and it sends a shock of electricity throughout her entire body. Removing her last few articles of clothing, she spots Korra subconsciously licking her lips.

Once Asami is fully disrobed, Korra opens her arms wide, and invites Asami into the tub with her. The look on Asami's face, fills Korra with an indescribable longing.

Climbing into the large tub, Asami sits directly in front of Korra.

Korra can't take her eyes off of Asami, and Asami can't stop ogling Korra.

Grabbing Asami by the chin, Korra gains her attention. "My eyes are up here, Asami."

Having been caught staring, Asami's entire face turns red, along with her upper chest and neck. Korra finds her entire reaction beautiful, and can't resist pulling her face closer and sharing all of her emotions through a single passionate kiss.

So much for taking it slow.

* * *

 **A/N: So I tried a bunch of new things in this chapter, that I'm not used to. Let me know what you think. Esp about the fight.**

 **It would seem things are heating up, for our two favorite girls. Not only relationship wise either! For the sake of keeping this story rated T, I won't add any smut. BUT if you would like to read about their adventure** _in fine detail_ **let me know, and I'll post a separate story, solely for that reason.**

 **Anyway, with all that being said, I hope you enjoyed, and if you did leave a review telling me! And if you didn't, leave a review telling me!**


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